Two new exhibitions at Aratoi have connections to the land and family.
In the Main Gallery, Wellington artist Caroline McQuarrie’s exhibition ‘The land, again’ challenges us to consider how we view land and landscape.
In her epic solo show, she traces one history of land use in Aotearoa New Zealand, creating a variety of pieces almost entirely from wool. They depict traditional sheep farming landscapes which we are encouraged to consider as human-made constructs. McQuarrie utilises weaving and cross stitch at an expand scale, the works reflecting both human-centric ways of viewing landscape, and the differing ways we conceptualise land as its cultural value changes when economic imperatives shift.
She asks how our understanding of these landscapes alter as they are further converted for regeneration of native bush or economic diversification into forestry.
Sharing the Main Gallery with McQuarrie is Wairarapa local and fan favourite Lisa Nelson in her first solo exhibition.
Coming off the back of winning a second Wairarapa Art Review Photography Prize, this exhibition contains brand new photography; A Still Life draws from the past to create work that invites the viewer to pause and contemplate.
The power of photography is its ability not only to record but to reveal, the objects and found art used within her work to become silent story tellers. Framed alongside domestic fabric and wallpapers, this exhibition is about home, the people and objects that inhabit our lives and the traces they leave.
“It’s a love letter to the people -predominantly the women in my life who have shaped me, who taught me that a quiet still life can be a beautiful life,” says Lisa.
CURRENT AND UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS:
Caroline McQuarrie: The land, again, 31 January- 19 April
Lisa Nelson: A Still Life, 31 January- 19 April
Felicity Donaldson: Where The Light Gets In, 14 February -10 May
Manaia Carswell, Aupiki, 7 March – 31 May
