PAST EXHIBITIONS
Ko wai a Māpihi? This is not water.
Cae Te Wheoro Heke, Nick Denton
14 Apr – 28 May 2022
Pōneke is a city full of streams. At least five run through the district named Te Aro, formerly amongst diverse wetlands and gardens, meeting Te Whanganui-a-Tara at the shoreline of Te Aro Pā.
They are still here. Waimapihi flows down from the gully in Waimapihi Reserve, through a forest of trees reaching up like vines into a shaded canopy. It meets the top of Holloway Road, channelled through a low concrete wall, a steel grate, and a pipe. It follows the road down Aro Street. If you know where to stand you can hear the gushing, tumbling of a waterfall under your feet. It traces ancient pathways now hidden, underneath buildings, crossing streets and the hum of people. Finally, Waimapihi flows past the foundations of Te Aro Pā at the end of Taranaki Street, before its waters rejoin Te Whanganui-a-Tara.
The stream is named for Māpihi (Ngāi Tara, Ngāti Māmoe) a wahine Rangatira who bathed here, although her stories are also hidden from view to most who cross her stream. Fish follow its course up and down dark underground paths, migrating through brick culverts and reinforced concrete apertures. Kōkopu can be seen upstream, and tuna and kōaro are among a thousand other species who touch this awa. Except, Waimapihi, for most of its length, is not a stream. It’s not even water.
Wishing you well
Hanna Shim 심한나
11 Feb – 30 Mar 2022
Soft, sewn sculptures by Hanna Shim 심한나 make space for elastic encounters within the rigid white walls of a gallery space. One of the artist’s goals in creating pliable art is to defeat the architecture that restrains and constrain the artist and their works from the wildness of making.
Kua whati te rākau
Hōhua Thompson
11 Feb – 30 Mar 2022
Tension and precarity are not new concepts for most cultures, especially since the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Māori have dealt with these issues before. Great migrations, wars and the constant onslaught of colonisation have given us examples of how our tīpuna handled these situations.
He Kanohi Kitea
Tallulah Farrar
26 Nov 2021 – 15 Sep 2022
Reading Room Mural
"He kanohi kitea" (a face seen) is an important saying and value in Māoridom, acknowledging the importance of meeting people face-to-face to build relationships and trust. Enjoy’s new commissioned artwork He Kanohi Kitea is situated in our reading room, an inviting place to nurture and encourage these interactions to take place. Within a global pandemic this acknowledges kanohi kitea hasn't always been possible, along with the realisation of how important the physical presence of seeing people face-to-face is to our overall wellbeing.
The name He Kanohi Kitea was gifted by our close friend and neighbour Tehani Buchanan. Thank-you so much for supporting this kaupapa. Much aroha to the whānau and for your mahi.
Sophia Coghini, Tautai Arts Intern 2021 at Enjoy has overseen this project as commissioning curator.
Thank-you to Jim & Mary Barr for your crucial support of this project.
Bling Ring
Clementine Edwards, Jenny Takahashi Palmer, Louie Zalk-Neale, Ming Ranginui, Nââwié Tutugoro
22 Oct – 11 Dec 2021
Precious items can have an important role in ritual and performance, with connections to sacred and intimate body parts; be it a handmade vessel we drink water out of, a comb we brush our hair with, or an elegant ring passed down from generations. They can be made of rare materials, be well-crafted and artisanal, but more vitally tend to have emotional significance or spiritual importance, something that is passed on and carried through us, evoking the memory and presence of loved ones.
Pieces of
Ruby 嫦潔 White
16 Jul – 25 Sep 2021
Summer Residency
Pieces of is an exhibition of handmade ceramics, video work and biofuel research by Tamaki-based artist and cook Ruby White. Concentrating on rediscovering and repurposing traditional clay working techniques to create functional ceramic cookers White combines old and new technologies to "look with apprehension and hope toward climate change and our collective future."
Help Yourself
Turumeke Harrington and Grace Ryder, with Sarah Hudson, Saskia Leek, Kristin Leek and Greta Menzies
28 May – 10 Jul 2021
This exhibition is created for each other, excuse our selfishness. We offer each other conditions to work that avoid and deter the ridiculous and indefensible aspects of "normal" practice. This has been an extended period of trust and experimentation, resulting in an exhibition that cradles and nurtures the others’ ambitions, at times quite literally.
—Grace Ryder
Lay in measures
Ed Ritchie, Megan Brady
9 Apr – 22 May 2021
Lay in measures is a new exhibition by Ōtepoti Dunedin-based artists Megan Brady and Ed Ritchie. The exhibition considers how architectural composition unconsciously affects bodily experience, through small-scale interventions of sound, subtle sculptural installations and replicated furnishings.
He waiata aroha
James Tapsell-Kururangi
9 Apr – 22 May 2021
I started making this work when my kuia passed. I traveled home to live at her house for a year. I wanted to be close to her again. A story she told me that has stuck with me: the account of her father’s drowning on the Tongariro River in Tūrangi. I have since visited the spot again and again.
How does time pass in a day, in a year, in a life? Within Māori cosmology, Māui and his brothers famously bound Tama-nui-te-rā, onwatcher to our humanity. Before, it was cold and Māori were starved of time. Perhaps our movements were slow. Inhibited by an endless night.
History reserves but a few lines for you
Areez Katki
19 Feb – 3 Apr 2021
For History reserves but a few lines for you, Areez Katki presents a series of textile works which build upon the artist’s ongoing enquiries into craft traditions, sites of queer intimacy and the complexities of migratory experience.
Bound in secret knots
Bena Jackson, Teresa Collins
19 Feb – 3 Apr 2021
Working with discarded goods and salvaged materials, Bound in secret knots includes new sculptural and moving image works by Pōneke Wellington-based artists Bena Jackson and Teresa Collins.
JustUs
Chevron Hassett
11 Dec 2020 – 13 Feb 2021
JustUs is a new solo exhibition by Te Upoko o Te Ika-based artist Chevron Hassett. Drawing from his experiences growing up in Te Awakairangi Lower Hutt, Hassett has developed a photographic installation that explores the lived realities and representation of Māori men in contemporary Aotearoa.
Optimism and its afterlives
Jane Zusters, Matthew Galloway, Naeem Mohaiemen, Selina Ershadi
30 Oct – 5 Dec 2020
Optimism and its afterlives thinks around a series of transitional moments, including works by artists who have found themselves witness to or bound up in scenes of change.
!ERROR!
Laura Duffy
18 Sep – 24 Oct 2020
For !ERROR! Pōneke-based moving image artist Laura Duffy has invited artists to dance in front of a green screen set up, and transported them to another, limitless, realm.
Cutouts
Ammon Ngakuru
18 Sep – 24 Oct 2020
Cutouts is an exhibition of new paintings and assemblage sculptures by Ammon Ngakuru. Exploring the material economies of gathered objects and a particular architectural site, Cutouts prompts us to reconsider biography or identity, exploring the way that history is read in the post-colonial context of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Bush coat
Daegan Wells
31 Jul – 12 Sep 2020
Summer Residency
Bush coat is an exhibition of new sculpture, moving image and textile work by Murihiku Southland-based artist Daegan Wells. Taking the social politics of wool as its starting point, Bush coat playfully interrogates the role of natural materials—and the craft forms and industry around them—in our shared and personal histories.
Fire-lit kettle
Annie Mackenzie, Ashleigh Taupaki, Georgette Brown, Imogen Taylor & Sue Hillery, Li-Ming Hu, Salote Tawale
19 Jun – 25 Jul 2020
Creative energy is frequently spoken about in relation to a particular kind of passion or ignition, from the feeling of an initial spark to a sense of burnout. We often circle around the metaphor of tending a fire when trying to grasp at this as a question of maintenance as well as one of intuition. This speaks to resources, knowledge and relationships that require ongoing care and attention.
This is a library
Christina Pataialii, Claudia Jowitt, Salome Tanuvasa, Teuane Tibbo
13 Mar – 18 Apr 2020
This is a library, curated by Hanahiva Rose, is an exhibition of work by Teuane Tibbo, Christina Pataialii, Salome Tanuvasa and Claudia Jowitt.
2020 Summer Residency
Daegan Wells
3 Feb – 14 Mar 2020
We’re thrilled to announce Daegan Wells as Enjoy’s 2020 Summer Resident. Currently based in Southland, Daegan will spend six weeks in Pōneke from 3 February–14 March 2020. While here, he’ll stay at the Rita Angus Cottage in Thorndon, working out of the cottage’s Fernbank Studio.
Soft Spot
Lucy Meyle
31 Jan – 7 Mar 2020
Breadzels
Chain mail
Egg before chicken
Mutual interference
Hagfishes
Eclairs/Croissants/‘Horn’ pastries
Bedroom/showroom/backroom
Allergies
Over-commitment
Patchwork
Thatched roofs
Soft Spot is a solo exhibition by Lucy Meyle driven by a sculptural exploration of types of containers and coverings, from those we interact with in everyday life to the more historic, fetishised or unusual. Looking at materials like slipcovers, crusts, shoes, and various kinds of ‘shells’, the artist considers how these can be interfered with in unexpected or humorous ways.