Join Sofia Roger Williams and Beth Torrance-Hetherington for kōrero with artists and creative types from the wide art world of Tāmaki Makaurau and beyond!
Launched in 2016 by writer Peter Wells, the goal for the festival is to be ‘an exciting event that makes people think about sexuality, difference and community, stretches their understanding, gives them a few laughs and creates a slightly magic space for two days in February’.
Pip Adam, author of Ockham-nominated novel Audition (2023), and Nathan Joe, award-winning theatre-maker and performance poet, are both board members of Samesame but different.
Beth caught up with Pip and Nathan about the festival this year
Swan Crash is an new exhibition by artist Tony Guo at Season Gallery Aotearoa.
Guo is a painter born in Aotearoa New Zealand who grew up in Northeast China and moved to Tāmaki Makaurau in 2012.
Although informed by particular experiences and histories connecting back to his parents’ and grandparents’ experiences in northeastern China in the 20th century and his queerness, Guo’s works invite shifting and multiple interpretations.
Sofia spoke to Guo about his artistic practice, the ideas within his works, and his process.
Anto Yeldezian is a Tāmaki Makaurau based artist of Armenian heritage. His latest exhibition, Arena, is currently showing at Coastal Signs Gallery.
The works in Arena often play with bright and bold colours - often being mixed medium, with images, sketches and painting superimposed onto one another. Coastal Signs writes that in Anto’s paintings, ‘[. . . ] images from a myriad of sources are layered on top of one another and synthesized, very adeptly, into painterly tableau. 'The works in Arena are, as the title suggests, often organised around game boards – such as Snakes & Ladders and Noughts & Crosses – and representations of contested territories, both fictional and otherwise’.
Beth had a kōrero with Anto about Arena and his artistic process
Prompts is Artspace Aotearoa’s latest exhibition, showing the early work of leading Aotearoa practitioner Michael Parekōwhai and Turner Prize-winning UK artist Lubaina Himid.
Presenting a large body of work on paper from Himid alongside the early and significant sculptural work, The Indefinite Article, by Parekōwhai, Prompts is Artspace Aotearoa’s first exhibition of 2025, which seeks to explore the gallery’s question this year: Is language large enough?
Sofia had a kōrero with Kaitohu Director of Artspace Aotearoa, Ruth Buchanan, about the show.
Saudade is a solo exhibition showing Naarm/Tāmaki Makaurau based artist, Loren Marks, at Sanderson Gallery.
Sanderson writes that [Loren’s] ‘artworks present ethereal and dreamlike scenes whereby figures emerge from the alchemic realms of paint’.
The works in this exhibition experiment with Helen Frankenthaler’s ‘soak-stain’ technique. Often abstracted, each absorbs the viewer into its individual world of vivid imagery and colour.
Beth had a kōrero with Loren about Saudade and her creative process
Books of Mana is a new book edited by Jacinta Ruru (Raukawa, Ngāti Ranginui), Angela Wanhalla (Kāi Tahu) and Jeanette Wikaira (Ngāti Pukenga, Ngāti Tamaterā, Ngāpuhi) which released earlier this week.
It is the first of its kind in the world to celebrate non-fiction indigenous writing – exploring 200 years of Māori print legacies. In examining the ways 180 selected books have enriched lives and helped to foster understanding of the Māori experience, both at home in Aotearoa and internationally, the book is a clear vision of influence, excellence and diversity of Māori writing.
Sofia spoke with co-editor and Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Otago, Jacinta Ruru, about Books of Mana.
Sofia had a kōrero with Artspace Aotearoa Kaitohu Director Ruth Buchanan about their newest exhibition showing Lubaina Himid and Michael Parekōwhai: Prompts.
Beth had a kōrero with artist Loren Marks about her new exhibition, Saudade, showing at Sanderson Gallery.
Sofia also spoke with Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Otago, Jacinta Ruru, about a book she co-edited, Books of Mana, which explores 180 Māori-authored books of significance.
Beth also spoke with artist Anto Yeldezian about his new exhibition, Arena, showing at Coastal Signs Gallery.
And for Stage Direction this week, Brady Peeti joined Sofia in the studio to speak about her Auckland Pride Show: What Happened To Mary-Anne?
STOP: Look Both Ways (Ugly Hill Press) is a new book by Murray Savidan. The book showcases some of the best of Murray’s photography from the 1960s to now.
Beth had a kōrero with Murray about the book and his extensive photography career. Additionally they chat about Murray’s time in The Bluestars, the first New Zealand band to sign to Decca in the ’60s.
In Murray’s own words, ‘You gesture with your camera, okay? You take a photograph, maybe another. You smile – thank you and move on. It’s taken 15 seconds, maybe less. But those brief encounters can be very rewarding. You remember them the rest of your life.’
STOP: Look Both Ways is out now at independent bookstores near you.
On May 1st, 1979, a group of young Māori and Pasifika activists, He Taua, confronted a gathering of University of Auckland engineering students as they rehearsed their annual ‘mock’ haka.
Following director Katie Wolfe’s play of the same name - which travelled the country on a highly successful national tour from 2021 - the documentary uses archival and contemporary interviews with people directly involved in the incident. Sofia spoke to Katie about this largely forgotten piece of history and her filmmaking process.
Sofia had a kōrero with writer, director, and producer of The Haka Party Incident, Katie Wolfe.
Alice Canton spoke to artistic director of Auckland Arts Festival, Bernie Haldane, about the programme this year. The festival is running from 6-23 March. More info here!
Brady Peeti (Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Maniapoto) joined Sofia in the studio to speak about "What Happened to Mary-Anne?" - a story of trans woman Mary-Anne and her insatiable adoration for the power of rock. The show is on at the Q Theatre Loft from 11th-15th February. You can get your tickets here!
For Stage Direction this week, Xin Ji joins Beth in the studio to discuss Body Story which is a physical dance theatre piece, as well as his debut solo show. Body Story is on at Q Theatre from the 18th-22nd February as part of Auckland Pride Festival. Tickets from Q Theatre’s website.
Jonjon Tolovae, Nikadrian Peters, and Lijah Mavaega spoke to Sofia and Beth about Mā: a devised theatre and performance poetry work that delves into themes of chosen family, motherhood, and identity coming up at Q Theatre as a part of Auckland Pride Festival.
For Stage Direction this week, Alice Canton joined us in the studio to speak with some of the organisers of the Festival of Sumud at the Button Factory - brought to you by the organisers of the Gaza Dialogues and Make art not War.
For Stage Direction this week, Alice Canton joins Beth in the studio to chat with Andrew Paterson and Jack Buchanan about Don Juan (A Slightly Isolated Dog) at Q Theatre.
Alice Canton joins Beth in-studio to kōrero with Kura Forrester and Brynley Stent about Camping, a play created and performed by Chris Parker and Tom Sainsbury with Forrester and Stent.
Think The Rocky Horror Picture Show meets French and Saunders in this risqué romp through a sea of sexual tension, tantrums, and tomfoolery.
Camping is showing at Q Theatre from 14th November – 7th December. Tickets from Q Theatre’s website.
For Stage Direction this week, Alice Canton joins Joel in studio to speak to Johanna Cosgrove and Brynley Stent about 'Hi Delusion' and 'Soft Carnage', both on at Basement Theatre tonight and tomorrow night. You can get tickets to Johanna's show here, and tickets to Brynley's here!