two new shows this weekend

I have two new openings this weekend. The first one is part of a fund raiser for the braveheart youth trust and is curated by Liz Caughey. It runs from the 28th - 30th of May at the ASB show grounds in Auckland. It should be a great opportunity to purchase some great art for a great reason as all commission goes to the Brave Heart Youth Trust.
Click here


The other up and coming show this weekend is at Thermostat in Palmerston North...

MFA work over, new show in MElbourne

So December 2009 I passed my MFA from RMIT in Melbourne. Great to have it over and done with and I am really pleased with the work that I produced out of it too. My assesment show in Auckland looked great, and the photos of it are here:







Tonight, in Melbourne at the Brunswick street gallery a show of my work from my MFA opens up. It's my first solo show outside of New Zealand. It runs until 8th of April and the gallery is open from 10am - 10pm 7 days a week. Find it in Fitzroy at 322 Brunswick street if you happen to be in Melbourne during this time.

There is plenty keeping me busy at the moment. As per usual. One of them is another baby on the way.


I understand it is going to get much busier afterwards, with a toddler and a baby, but somehow I seem to find pregnancy a bit time consuming. ( I found it easier doing my masters after Jai was born as opposed to the first year of it when I was pregnant with him)

brother and sister

Here is another work as part of the super-impositions developed through my MFA. Assessment is this coming weekend.

100% pure NZ

examining notions of purity in New Zealand





examining notions of purity in New Zealand

Maori and Pakeha (3)

And here is another of my new works. From the body of work Maori and Pakeha

enjoy



And don't forget to pop in to see the Trust Waikato National Contemporary Art Awards show that is opening this Friday night (4th of September) at 5.30pm. The exhibition runs till January 2010 so you should have no excuses as to getting in there at some point.

show in melbourne - THE WORK

Here was my contribution to the show in Melbourne. It is from another body of work from my MFA.

On another note, my piece, Husband and Wife is a finalist in the TWNCAA (Trust Waikato National Contemporary Art Awards) The exhibition of all the finalists is on at the Waikato Museum, from Sept through to Jan 2010. I will keep you posted with the info about the show closer to the time.

show in melbourne

We are off to Melbourne this weekend to hang the show for the students enrolled in the NZ MFA at RMIT (which includes me). For those of you who don't like the acronyms that is the New Zealand Master of Fine Arts at RMIT University. The invite to the show is below, feel free to pop in if you are in Melbourne!

confusion

This image is titled Pakeha and Maori with Moko
I went to my last tutorial thinking that this was my new favorite image. It was soon made clear to me that this was most peoples least favorite image out of my recent work, and of course, that the image I had liked the least, was everyone's favorite. How confusing. I'm still coming to terms with it. I can see how the ethical and political issues of this image could be potentially problematic. But regardless of this I was interested in pursuing the use of it in my work. Now I am having to step back and weigh it all up. Feedback is always appreciated.

great-grandmother, granddaughter, and great-grandson

sisters

On this journey of superimposing images together, it strikes me how two images could be combined so differently.

Here we have sisters



And sisters (2)




They are the same sisters

mother and son

a notion of transmutation of relationship and culture in New Zealand


This is perhaps a more apt description of what it is I am looking at in my current work... I'm yet to nut it out completely, I'm getting there though, slowly.

Here is an image titled mother and son, it's of my son and I



Here is the image I took also titled mother and son. I made this image first, and felt that there was something else that I could gain by repeating and changing the image. The new one above is much different than this earlier version, and I don't know if much can be gained by directly comparing them, but here they are anyway.

mum and dad

In continuation from my recent work, here is an image titled - mum and dad
it's my mum and dad, hence the title.




And here are my new refined (and verbose) research questions for my MFA -

In what ways are notions of identity influenced and altered by intimate and family relationships, by cultural background and relationship to other cultures (in particular the relationship and effect on Pakeha by
Maori), and how can these complex ideas of identity be explored using photography?

In what ways has (family) photography as a historical tool aided and influenced ideas of ‘self’ and how can this be explored through photographic montage and the use of layering to generate ideas of an accumulative ‘self’?

In what ways does (family) photography aid and influence the development of our understanding of who we are and how can photography be used to explore the notion of an accumulative/evolutional identity?

In what ways are notions of identity influenced through genealogy and how has this been aided by (family) photography?

back onto it again

I've taken a bit of time off over summer to enjoy myself, and to swim, sit in the sun and read and such like. However, my second and final year of my MFA is underway now, so I am busy today procrastinating starting on the presentation I need to have competed in a few weeks by posting on this blog, and other such time wasters. You'd think since I can only work on this when our baby is asleep or when he is being looked after by my Mum or Owen I wouldn't procrastinate so, and certainly I do it much less than I used to. I have one more task on my list of things to do before starting MFA work after this post, then I better get on to it!

My recent revelation in my work is that I am interested in accumulative identity or (for want of a better word) evolutional identity. This enompases the range of questions I have been asking in relation to how identity is effected and in turn perceived by family heritage, our race and race relations, our closest relationships and by our own perceptions. I am yet to clarify this statement (this is what I have been putting off doing) so I hope once I start I will have sorted it out with a bit more eloquence. As one of my tutors calls it, it is our 'punch line' that one liner answer that you can give when some one asks you that dreaded question at a dinner party, "So, what do you do?"

two little boys

I am a sucker for sentimental songs, poetry, and old fashioned music amongst other things. I remember hearing this song when I was a little girl and loving it then, I think it brought tears to my eyes way back then when I was only 4 or 5 years old. I have been tuned into national radio recently, and this evening they played it. I haven't heard it for so long and it brought tears to my eyes again. And just so it's not so random, here is a picture of my boy and another little boy playing together today.

Two little boys

(Morse - Madden arr. Braden) H. Darewski Music / EMI / Redwood Music (P) 1969
Cond. Alan Braden - Produced by Mickey Clarke

Two little boys had two little toys
Each had a wooden horse
Gaily they played each summer's day
Warriors both of course
One little chap then had a mishap
Broke off his horse's head
Wept for his toy then cried with joy
As his young playmate said

Did you think I would leave you crying
When there's room on my horse for two
Climb up here Jack and don't be crying
I can go just as fast with two
When we grow up we'll both be soldiers
And our horses will not be toys
And I wonder if we'll remember
When we were two little boys

Long years had passed, war came so fast
Bravely they marched away
Cannon roared loud, and in the mad crowd
Wounded and dying lay
Up goes a shout, a horse dashes out
Out from the ranks so blue
Gallops away to where Joe lay
Then came a voice he knew

Did you think I would leave you dying
When there's room on my horse for two
Climb up here Joe, we'll soon be flying
I can go just as fast with two
Did you say Joe I'm all a-tremble
Perhaps it's the battle's noise
But I think it's that I remember
When we were two little boys

Do you think I would leave you dying
There's room on my horse for two
Climb up here Joe, we'll soon by flying
Back to the ranks so blue
Can you feel Joe I'm all a tremble
Perhaps it's the battle's noise
But I think it's that I remember
When we were two little boys

skeleton

I just can't help myself when it comes to skeletons and the like. There is something very intriguing about them, about how they look, their loss of identity, the break down of life and what is left behind, and of course and about death itself and how hard it is to comprehend such a concept.

husband and wife (2)

As part of the work of my MFA I have been looking at the merging of identities and the varying perceptions of identity. The image above is one of the images I have been working on to explore this.

How do people see you? Does what you do (or what people think you do) affect how they percieve you? What about your relationships? How do they affect the perception of yourself that others have of you? Do these major things in our lives (what we do and our relationships) really change who we are? When you are married, are two now really one?

me myself and I

Not much time for procrastinating on the internet what with a Masters project due and with bubs to balance too. But here is a quick post with a couple of my latest images

Jai Felix Keet

The waiting is over
I have met
Our little Alien
Our little one
The Bump
The Parasite
Our little angel

baby journal 39+5 weeks pregnant

i get the
feeling
that
you are
that
i am
that
we are
going to meet
very soon

baby journal

As part of my attempted commitment to stay in touch with my art over the last period of my pregnancy and the early stages of the baby, I decided to do something that I find very difficult at the best of times: stick to a routine. Well, to be precise I decided to write and take a photo every day in relation to the changes happening in my mind and body around the baby. I have a journal and from 35 weeks pregnant and for the first weeks of the babies life this is my aim. It doesn't take long to do, some times it's just a line of quick thought and a quick snap.

Here is the image and the line from 37 weeks and two days pregnant

I fluctuate between feeling ready
and
feeling overwhelmed
the idea of the birth
and breast feeding
and
nappies
and sleeplessness
is all so much