Current Exhibition

Through the Fray brings together sculpture and installation by three artists who each draw from the rituals, roles and objects that, while ubiquitous and often unspoken or overlooked, carry significant weight in shaping who we are. Everyday materials: steel wool, furniture, sugar, timber posts and wire, speak to the lived experiences of each artist, and each artwork holds inherited and questioned narratives.

A recliner sofa embroidered by Isabella Lepoamo with Samoan siapo, crewel and blackwork designs and symbols holds a throne-like authority, referencing memories from her childhood of her father and grandfather, and the household rituals and habits she associates with each of them. Beer bottle sculptures made from sugar glass and shaped into lillies surround the chair, marking a transformation and an acknowledgement of the complexities of holding on to cultural and familial memories.

Terra nullius is an expression that translates to ‘nobody’s land’, and in 1840 this legal concept was used as a basis to justify the extension of British sovereignty across Te Waipounamu and Rakiura by ‘right of discovery’. Today, criss-crossing lines of fences demarcate swathes of Aotearoa; each marking grids of land sectioned out by belief in private ownership. Jude Hanson Stevens’ sculpture utilises tōtara battens, wire and fixtures weathered by use and salvaged from rural properties around Tāmaki Makaurau and Waikato to section off part of the gallery.

Zac Whiteside has used steel wool to fabricate a series of garment-like sculptures, referencing rugby jerseys and the formative rites of sport and competition that many young people experience. Steel wool holds an intrinsic duality, being both abrasive and polishing. Like the rugby jerseys Most Improved mimic, they work on the wearer; smoothing them out by grinding them down. Rugby is a team sport with defined positions and roles, a system that fosters a united team spirit but also a necessary outward toughness.

Through the Fray touches on different lived-by symbols. Whether it be the significance taken on by a well-worn piece of furniture or clothing, or commonplace things like fences that become emblems of displacement and loss when encountered again and again across the landscape. Each artist in Through the Fray takes these inherent signifiers and qualities and remakes them anew, imbuing each artwork with their own first-hand experiences and perspectives.