Exhibition shows depth of engagement with Ihumātao

SOUL Press Release:

High profile art exhibition shows depth of engagement with Ihumātao

Te Ihu o Mataoho
Rebecca Ann Hobbs
Gallery One, ST Paul St, AUT.

40 St Paul St. AKL CBD
22 April – 27 May 2016
Exhibition opening 5.30pm Thursday 21 April

Te Ihu o Mataoho is a contemporary art exhibition created by MIT, Otara Visual Arts lecturer Rebecca Ann Hobbs in consultation with mana whenua and in collaboration with other creative practitioners.

The exhibition at ST Paul St Gallery One features ten artworks across diverse media, from moving image to a hand painted silk banner and textiles to an interpretive map to photographs of rockpose choreography.

The works advocate for the appreciation of ngā puia o Tāmaki Makaurau (the volcanic field of Auckland), by raising the profiles of volcanic features with artworks that celebrate the contemporary relationships that communities have with these precious sites. This work takes research of ngā puia o Tāmaki Makaurau as a point of departure from traditional exhibition practice. The exhibition continues Hobbs’ interest in movement practices, particularly notions of embodied measurement and the politics of living and making work in a settled country.

Te Ihu o Mataoho is grounded in the Ihumātao peninsula, which encompasses the volcanic features Maungataketake, Otuataua, Waitomokia and most importantly Puketaapapa. The Ihumātao area contains archaeological sites that are protected under the Historic Places Act (1993). The area of open land surrounding these sites has recently been made a Special Housing Area for new housing to ease pressure in Auckland. This decision has put many significant cultural and geological features of the area under threat. Hobbs is working with mana whenua, local residents, artists and others to respond to the area’s historic and contemporary geological, volcanic, social and cultural narratives.

The artist’s approach is underpinned by the research question: ‘How can I perform multimedia art works that engage with experience-centered content, in locally specific contexts, in a reciprocal manner?’

Te Ihu o Mataoho has been made by Rebecca Hobbs in collaboration with: Cat Ruka, David Veart, Fiona Jack, Kahu Tuwhare, Karamia Muller, Louisa Afoa, Martin Awa Clarke Langdon, Molly Rangiwai McHale, Paula Booker, Qiane Matata-Sipu, Ralph Brown, Tosh Ahkit, SOUL, Moana waa, Te Wai-o-Hua.

Ends

Rebecca Ann Hobbs:

Australian born, Wulgurukaba country, Rebecca Ann Hobbs is a visual arts practitioner and currently academic staff at the Manukau Institute of Technology in Otara, Aotearoa. Working with multimedia to create video and still images that celebrate dynamic bodies and their relationships with specific sites. Hobbs has been invited to exhibit in galleries from Aotearoa to Australia, Barbados, France, Germany, Nigeria, Poland, Scotland, Sweden, Turkey and the U.S.A. In 2002 the artist received the Australian Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship, permitting her to undertake tertiary education at the California Institute of the Arts, where she completed a Masters in Fine Arts in 2005

ST PAUL St Gallery

Established in 2004, ST PAUL St Gallery is a suite of purpose-built galleries and project spaces located within the School of Art and Design and Te Ara Poutama at AUT University. The gallery is dedicated to the development of contemporary art and design through an international programme of exhibitions, events, symposia and publications. ST PAUL St Gallery embraces one of the primary instructions for universities in the New Zealand Education Act (1984), that they "accept a role as critic and conscience of society." Through our programmes we also interrogate the proposition that the arts have a particular capacity to speak critically about society.

Gallery One and Two
Level 1 WM Building,
40 St Paul Street
School of Art and Design,
AUT University
Opening Hours: 10 am - 5 pm Tuesday to Friday, 12 pm - 4 pm Saturday.

Closed Sunday, Monday and Public Holidays and during exhibition changes.

More gallery details here:
https://stpaulst.aut.ac.nz/all-exhibitions/te-ihu-a-mataoho

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