Various Artists with Beth & Sofia

On Various Artists i tēnei wiki...

Beth had a kōrero with Tāmaki Makaurau-based poet Amy Marguerite about her debut poetry collection, over under fed, out now via Auckland University Press. 

She also spoke with Pōneke-based poet Gregory Kan about his new poetry collection, Clay Eaters, out now via Auckland University Press, also.

Sofia had a kōrero with Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Wikimedian in Residence, Anjuli Selvadurai, about the Wiki 101 Edit-a-thon tomorrow. 

And Beth also had a kōrero with the Artistic Director of the Auckland Writers Festival for 2025, Lyndsey Fineran, about the programme this year.

And for Stage Direction this week, Ngahiriwa Rauhina joined Alice Canton in the studio to speak about ration the Queens veges currently on at Te Pou Theatre.

Whakarongo mai!

Clay Eaters is the latest poetry collection by Gregory Kan, out now via Auckland University Press.

Clay Eaters traverses a network of fault lines diverging and converging at unexpected angles: a mysterious jungle island, military reconnaissance training, the spirits in the trees and abandoned temples, old family homes, the echoes across rooms, the dining table set for the archetypal feast. The author asks what it means to write the self, and what it is the living must carry.

Beth caught up with Greg about Clay Eaters and the fragmentary nature of the collection. He also performed a couple of poems.

Ruminations: Encrypting My Mother Tongue is a new exhibition by artist Anthony Zemke showing as part of the Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival. It is a ‘visual exploration of the struggle faced by diasporic and mixed-race individuals to connect with a mother tongue they may never know’ (Auckland Arts Festival).

The exhibition runs through the festival of Naw-Rúz (Nowruz) which is celebrated as a time of renewal, reconnection and reflection by Iranians, Baháʼís, and various other communities.

The series of paintings and drawings aim to transform feelings of shame and guilt into celebrations of heritage and belonging through calligraphic abstraction. 

Beth had a kōrero with Anthony about Ruminations. 

Having it All, All, All is a new group exhibition at Gus Fisher Gallery composed of nine international artists whose work has been pivotal in the reimagination of female subjectivity in art.

The exhibition is showing select video and performance art by the likes of Ana Mendieta (Cuba/USA), Yoko Ono (Japan/USA), Howardena Pindell (USA), Pipilotti Rist (Switzerland), Martha Rosler (USA), Christa Schadt (Canada), Janice Tanaka (USA), Hannah Wilke (USA), and Nil Yalter (Turkey/France). 

Spanning the 1960s to 1990s, Having it All, All, All delves into the activism and identity politics associated with Second Wave Feminism and its critics.

Sofia spoke to curator of contemporary art at Gus Fisher Gallery, Lisa Beauchamp, about the exhibition, her curation process, and the impact of these works on feminist politics as seen through a contemporary perspective.