Various Artists with Sofia & Maya

Zina Swanson is a Ōtautahi Christchurch-based artist working amongst an artistic practice of painting, drawing, sculpture and instalation. Her practice delves into the exploration of the both fluctuating and porous relationship between humans and the natural world—often looking into these uncanny plant-related lores that occupy a slight nod to a darker view of humanity's relationship with the natural world.

Her current exhibition on at Sumer, Their Seeds Are Winged and Borne in Pairs continues and builds on Swanson's exploration of the natural world, navigating its rhythms and textures. Within this exhibition Swanson looks to the Sycamore plant, specifically their seeds. Producing an inquisitive new body of work that includes series of paintings, both acrylic on canvas and watercolour on paper, as well as human scale sculptures in clay and painted steel. 

Inviting us to look a bit closer at the natural world around us, and ponder in its porous boundaries between humans.

Maya had a kōrero with Zina Swanson about the show and overall practice.

Last week, the government released the new curriculum subjects for students in years 11-13. New subjects such as politics, civics, philosophy, music technology, and media, journalism, and communications were included, but art history as a standalone subject has been quietly dropped – now to be incorporated into design, painting, photography and creative arts subjects.

The move has been widely criticised by art historians, academics, and past students, calling the decision both ‘devastating’ and ‘unsurprising’.

Sof spoke to the President of the New Zealand Art History Teachers Association, Dr Barbara Ormond, about the decision and the potential impact it will have on teaching the subject, both at the secondary and tertiary levels. 

Razzle Dazzle is a new exhibition showing a suite of previously unexhibited works from 2005-2006 by Martin Thompson, opening tonight at Charles Ninow Gallery. 

Martin Thompson (1956-2021) was a self-taught artist from the Wellington Region who became renowned for his abstract drawings. 

Although embodying these digital, post-internet, and almost early video game-like qualities, Thompson’s work was shaped and directed by fractals, which showed how simple mathematical rules can generate the complex structures we see in nature. 

The works in Razzle Dazzle show Thompson extending and upscaling his drawings beyond A3 and A4 graph paper, using a decidedly anti-digital approach with a Xerox machine, inviting an inspection of the works’ delicate complexities. 

Sof had a kōrero with Gallery Director and Curator Charles Ninow about Martin Thompson, his life, and practice.

Tali is a group show exhibiting artists Serene Hodgman, Claudia Jowitt, Sione Monū, Ahilapalapa Rands, and Salome Tanuvasa, currently on at Melanie Roger Gallery. 

Facilitated by Claudia Jowitt, the show sees the artists weaving and plaiting together histories and traditional practices of the South Pacific from a contemporary diasporic lens grounded within their respective whakapapa, transforming the space into one of vibrance and joy through their mixed mediums and approaches. 

Sofia had a kōrero with Claudia Jowitt about the making of the show, and those included.