home/ground

Robert McDougall Gallery at Canterbury Museum
Rolleston Avenue
1st September - 30th November
Hours: Tues-Sun 10am-4pm

Surrounded by the ocean, Aotearoa New Zealand is increasingly a nation where people and cultures intersect at the ‘crossroads’ of Asia, Pacific and the West. In keeping with the SCAPE Biennial 04’s Asia-Pacific focus, HOME/GROUND explored the fusions that occur within this complex and changing region, bringing together work by seven artists from New Zealand and Australia whose work is linked by an interest in the dynamic, sometimes problematic intersections that occur between cultures.


The installations were located in the southern bays, print room and centre south gallery of the Robert McDougall Gallery at Canterbury Museum. Against this neoclassical backdrop, the works consider the political implications of multiculturalism from a deliberately personal perspective, using familiar and domestic objects to allude to individual observations and experiences. Collectively, the works wittily and provocatively expressed the resilience of culture, encouraging viewers to consider cultural collision from a range of new perspectives.
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Curator


Felicity Milburn is curator of Contemporary Art at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu. She recently curated 'Te Puawai o Ngai Tahu: An exhibition of twelve contemporary Ngai Tahu artists' (Christchurch Art Gallery, 2003).

LONNIE HUTCHINSON
(Ngai Tahu)

Lady from Magdala 2003 Lonnie Hutchinson. Builder’s paper. Courtesy of The Other Gallery, Banff Art Centre, Canada

NIKI HASTINGS-MCFALL
(New Zealand)

Parataiso II (detail) 2003 Niki Hastings-McFall. Synthetic lei. From the series, Rise up Singing Courtesy of the artist.
Photo: John Collie

LUISE FONG
(New Zealand)


Happy-Joyful-Home (detail) 2004 Luise Fong. Screen-printed fabric. Courtesy of the

AARON SEETO
(Australia)

The One thousand other things (detail) 2001-04 Aaron Seeto. Gold toned silver-salt photographs on preserved duck eggs. Courtesy of the artist

WAROONWAN (JEAB) THONGVANIT
(Thailand/New Zealand)


Untitled (detail) 2004 Waroonwan (Jeab) Thongvanit. Photograph. Courtesy of the artist

SANGEETA SANDRASEGAR
(Australia)


The gathering and gossiping of various tools 2003 Sangeeta Sandrasegar. Digital drawing, courtesy of the artist

SOFIA TEKELA-SMITH
(New Zealand)


Melodies of Their Honey Coloured Skin part 2, self-portrait (detail) 2003 Sofia Tekela-Smith. Greenstone, black pearl, waxed thread, fibreglass & acrylic. From the series: Tatau my Heart Tatau, Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Studio La Gonda