Aratoi

Aratoi Autumn exhibitions

Our major Autumn exhibition, Toitū Te Whenua, The Land Will Always Remain, takes up the main gallery, with large installations and thought-provoking images to encourage the viewer to think about the forces that shape our environment. A pulsing heartbeat of light contrasts to the exhibition’s underlying narrative of deep time and eons of the Earth.

Understanding the role of immigrants in the Wairarapa, and how the land came to be changed with families arriving, the portrait exhibition; William’s Legacy: The Beetham Portraits is a rare look at one of the oldest immigrant families in the region and their family story. 

Our two new exhibitions focus on human perseverance and determination. Hamish Kummer’s The way I see it! shows us joyful, colourful paintings that are a warm antidote in the current climate, showing us the best of human spirit through living with cerebral palsy. Ngā Haerenga/ Journeys – Celebrating Matariki brings us the story of navigation, through observing the natural world, star compasses and nautical instruments. A waka fragment from the Wairarapa coast reminds us of the enormous task of voyaging across the oceans. 

Hamish Kummer: The way I see it!

6 April – 15 May

A joyful, eclectic collection of colourful paintings celebrating Hamish Kummer and his remarkable artworks. Despite being born with celebral palsy, it didn’t stop him wanting to paint and when he discovered King Street Artworks he flourished. Everything he produced was shaped by his intense concentration and the control he had to acquire to manage his materials. 

Ngā Haerenga/ Journeys – Celebrating Matariki

16 April – 21 August 

For thousands of years, people have used the natural world to help with their journey navigation. The exhibition Ngā Haerenga/ Journeys – Celebrating Matariki highlights this notion from legendary Polynesian explorer Kupe through to the present-day commuters; we are guided by the stars, animal migrations, and the landscape. Take a closer look at a waka fragment discovered on the Wairarapa coast and learn how Matariki is still used to navigate and mark the seasons today.

Public and school holiday programmes will accompany this exhibition.

Toitū Te Whenua, The Land Will Always Remain

5 March – 26 June 

The five artists- Simon Lardelli, Jacqui Colley, Jenna Packer, Bruce Foster, and Ian-Wayne Grant (Ngāti Kahungunu, Rangitāne) – look at the land through time, and how humans have played a part in shaping it. Through painting, photography, new media and sculpture, the artists delve deeper into the forces which shape our environment and identity. 

From large installations to intimate paintings these five artists worked with natural materials like wood, stone, and clay to represent the exhibition’s Kaupapa. Toitū Te Whenua, The Land Will Always Remain

focuses on matters that affect all of us in Aotearoa and around the world: our physical environment, the land, our home, our actions, our history, and how this shapes our identity.

William’s Legacy: The Beetham Portraits

5 March – 26 June

William Beetham was already established as a professional portrait artist in England with many exhibitions across the world, when in 1855, anxious about prospects for his children, he emigrated with his family to Wellington. He quickly became a significant figure as a colonist, pastoralist and portrait artist and founded one of New Zealand’s most extensive pastoral stations – Brancepeth, in the Wairarapa.

Beetham was the first professional portrait artist in New Zealand decades before Gottfried Lindauer and Charles Goldie and this exhibition showcases selected portraits from the family, including some that have never been seen in a public exhibition before. Most of these portraits are still owned by descendants of William and Mary Beetham.