Tāria Te Wā
Areta Wilkinson
28 Oct – 14 Nov 2020
Time passed, passing time and thinking about times past. This new body of work by Areta Wilkinson refers to recording time through object making – 36 lockdown days.
Installed like a timeline, Wilkinson presents a relational whakapapa, a methodical recitation where each singular piece relates to the other whilst recalling former makers of old. The artist utilises fine materials and age-old stone implements (hammer and anvil stones) sourced from Ngāi Tahu Awa to imprint their own textured narrative of millennia into metal.
Tāria Te Wā – After A Time is a return by the artist to the wearable and an elegant evaluation following Areta Wilkinson: Moa-Hunter Fashions at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna Waiwhetu till 6 February 2021.
Areta Wilkinson (Ngāi Tahu) has developed a significant art practice over 27 years that has investigated the intersection of applied art (contemporary jewellery) as a form of knowledge and practice with Māori philosophies, especially whakapapa and a worldview informed by Ngāi Tahu perspectives.
Recent exhibitions include; The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art (GAGOMA), Brisbane, AU (2018-19); Cult, curated by Current Obsession at the Stedelijk Museum Hertogenbosch, (2016-17); and Kōrero Mai Kōrero Atu at Auckland Museum, Auckland (2016). Her work is well represented in New Zealand collections including Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum and Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, Wellington. Wilkinson holds a PhD in Creative Arts from Massey University Te Pūtahi-a-Toi School of Māori Studies.