Al Balad Alam: The Land We Rest Upon
Co-curated by Melina Payne and I, Al Balad Alam commemorates the rich whakapapa of Corban’s Estate during it’s 100th anniversary celebrations. Featuring works from Nicola Fraser, Meg Mahy, Scarlett Kean, Karlene Groves, Tonina Ngatai and myself.
Makers give thanks and gain connection to their own experience of homeland, whether that be an ethereal ancestral home, the whenua below, an imagined home, or the weatherboard house they grew up in.
Client
Corban’s Art Centre
Year
2023
Opening of Al Balad Alam. Photograph by Carolyn Sylvester.
Installation view of Al Balad Alam. Photograph by Ralph Brown.
Tonina Ngatai, The Throne (2022). Photograph by Ralph Brown.
Installation view of Al Balad Alam. Photograph by Ralph Brown.
Karlene Groves, Acquiescence (2021). Photograph by Ralph Brown.
Nicola Fraser, Thakl al umahat - Weight of a mother (2021). Photograph by Ralph Brown.
Meg Mahy, Untitled (2023). Photograph by Ralph Brown.
Opening of Al Balad Alam. Photograph by Carolyn Sylester.
Pots and Pans
Pots and Pans is a letter to Pots, my beautiful, eccentric, Dad who has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. A dedication to the domestic life he has cultivated, and the heartiest mihi possible for our incredible childhood.
The notion of ‘homeland’ can be solid and real for some, or intangible and undefinable. Our recent throw into crisis has confirmed that, for me, homeland is found somewhere amongst the joyful, ethereal, delicate cloud of childhood.
Aroha nui Pots, mauri ora!
