Two new exhibitions open in Aratoi’s Main Gallery this winter.
Futatsu no Sekai (Two Worlds) is an exhibition to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of Hibaku, featuring Robin White (New Zealand) and Taeko Ogawa (Japan).
This year marks the 80th anniversary of Hibaku – the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the concluding phase of World War Two.
Hatsukaichi and Masterton signed a “sister city” agreement in 2000 and there have been numerous cultural exchanges since. During Robin White’s first visit to Hatsukaichi six years ago, she met Taeko Ogawa, who had been using the art form of calligraphy to express a message of peace. The two artists swiftly struck up a friendship and working relationship which has led to them collaborating on new works.
The exhibition also features works that Robin White has made in collaboration with other Japanese artists: Kei Echizen, Yoshishige Tanaka, Yoshiko Takebayashi and Keiko Iimura.
The second exhibition is from Martinborough local Sandra Schmid. Her exhibition Conversation explores the intimate, often unspoken dialogue between humans and the environments they inhabit—through the very materials that emerge from the land itself.
This exhibition centres listening not only as a metaphorical gesture, but as a tactile, grounded practice, embodied in the use of natural, reclaimed and culturally significant materials.
Main Gallery exhibitions: 28 June – 28 September
Robin White and Taeko Ogawa: Futatsu no Sekai (Two Worlds)
Sandra Schmid: Conversations
Opening Friday 18 July, 5:30 p.m. – all welcome.
