Various Artists with Sofia & Maya

Sofia had a kōrero with Ayesha Green about her current exhibition at Season Aotearoa, Ruin on the Cascade, and her practice generally

She also chatted with Judy Millar and Kate Newby about their respective practices in light of their current joint exhibition at Michael Lett Gallery. 

And for Stage Direction this week, Alice Canton joined Sofia in the studio to chat with Annie Guo and Summer Xia about Comedy Fest.

Whakarongo mai e te whānau x

Intimation of Endless Space Given in a Small Window of Time (approximately 10 minutes) is a new exhibition by graphic designer Lina Grumm and composer Ethan Braun at Artspace Aotearoa. 

The exhibition tends to relationships between sound, space, the visual, and the body, inviting deep listening and limitless interpretation, and engendering a gallery in constant flux. 

Sofia had a kōrero with Kaitohu Director of Artspace Aotearoa, Ruth Buchanan, about the show and the artists.

e kō, nō hea koe is the debut poetry collection by award-winning slam poet and filmmaker Matariki Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Hinerangi). 

Published by Dead Bird Books, e kō, nō hea koe is “a series of goodbyes and attempts to slow the shedding, it's a group of teenagers sparking up as they watch the great pacific garbage patch catapult into space and become a second moon, it's endless conversations with Grandmama about stars, it is the constant rebirth of whakapapa and learning that silence isn’t the best part of her.” 

Sofia caught up with Matariki about the themes of this body of work and how it came to fruition.

Emily Cumming Harris was one of New Zealand’s first female botanical artists and writers. However, herself and her work has largely been forgotten. Neither her distinctive voice nor her almost 200 surviving images have been heard or seen in any quantity outside of archival or online spaces. 

Groundwork: the Art and Writing of Emily Cumming Harris is a new book by author, poet and emeritus Professor of English at the University of Auckland, Michele Leggott, and co-author Catherine Field-Dodgson, published by Te Papa Press. It is the first detailed study of Harris’ exhibiting practices. 

Sofia had a kōrero with Michele and Catherine about the book and what inspired them to embark on this research