Julian Dashper: Midwestern Unlike You and Me w/ Andrew Thomas: 20th February, 2026

Currently showing at Michael Lett Gallery is a restaging of Julian Dashper’s mid-career survey exhibition Midwestern Unlike You and Me, which originally toured the American Midwest from 2005-2006. Curated by Christopher Cook and David Raskin, the exhibition was and is the first and only time a survey exhibition of a New Zealand artist has toured the United States. 

Dashper was regarded as one of Aotearoa’s most well-known contemporary artists. Being a primarily conceptually based artist, his work has often been described as being intertwined with this dialogue with other artists and art history – both internationally and locally, placing Aotearoa’s geographical positioning at the centre of his practice as he explored these ideas of international styles, visual cultures, and repositioning the artworld’s institutional framework through his varied materiality.

Marking 20 years since this significant moment in Dashper’s career, Midwestern, Unlike You and Me at Michael Lett brings together around 50 works and objects, many of which have not been seen publicly since the exhibition’s American tour. 

Sof had a kōrero with co-director of Michael Lett, Andrew Thomas, about the show and Dashper’s life and practice more generally.