10 February – 06 May 2023
Gus Fisher, Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland)
ALICIA FRANKOVICH Aotearoa New Zealand / Australia.
A R A P E T A, Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Whanaunga, Ngāti Porou, Muriwhenua.
ARCHIE BARRY, Australia.
AYESHA GREEN, Ngāti Kahungunu, Kai Tahu.
ANNIE SPRINKLE & BETH STEPHENS, USA.
LAURA DUFFY, with soundscape by Crone (Emily Berryman and Lucy Reid)
MARY MAGGIC, USA / Austria.
RICHARD ORJIS, Aotearoa New Zealand.
A R A P E T A, Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Whanaunga, Ngāti Porou, Muriwhenua.
ARCHIE BARRY, Australia.
AYESHA GREEN, Ngāti Kahungunu, Kai Tahu.
ANNIE SPRINKLE & BETH STEPHENS, USA.
LAURA DUFFY, with soundscape by Crone (Emily Berryman and Lucy Reid)
MARY MAGGIC, USA / Austria.
RICHARD ORJIS, Aotearoa New Zealand.
‘What queer can offer is the identity of I am also. I am also human. I am also natural. I am also alive and dynamic and full of contradiction, paradox, irony. Queer knocks down the house of cards and throws them into the warm wind.
The sentiment of flowers brings together artworks by leading Aotearoa and international artists that broadly resonate with the theme of queer ecologies. The exhibition embraces a non-binary approach to thinking about nature by encouraging us to abandon ideas of human exceptionalism in order to understand how queerness is an integral part of life for all living organisms.
In ecology, queerness enables infinite possibilities and is broader than sexuality or gender identity. Deconstructing and moving beyond reductive dualisms that serve to give the word ‘natural’ its agency, artworks in the exhibition employ a range of destabilising strategies central to queer theory. The exhibition looks at artistic propositions for a queer ecological future and addresses a range of concepts including biohacking, eco-sexuality, the decolonisation of nature and posthuman ecologies.
An essay by Simon Gennard, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art and Collections at The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, accompanies the exhibition.
https://gusfishergallery.auckland.ac.nz/simon-gennard-to-render-life-delightful/
From Emergence of After was made with support from the Jan Warburton Trust