Once Were Gardeners w/ artist Ngaroma Riley: 13th September, 2024

Once Were Gardeners is an exhibition by artist and carver Ngaroma Riley, currently showing at Season Gallery. It comprises a group of painted carvings that draw inspiration from a lecture of the same name by the late Moana Jackson.

The carvings reflect on and celebrate precolonial Māori life, and emphasise the fact that a core meaning of the term Māori is ‘natural’.

Beth had a kōrero with Ngaroma about Once Were Gardeners and the carving process.