Gallery Year: 2027 Exhibition Artists

Margaret Aull

Margaret Aull (b. 1978, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Fiji) is a Māori–Fijian artist and curator whose practice bridges painting, sculpture, and installation to explore whakapapa, tapu/tabu, and cultural knowledge systems. Based in Te Awamutu, Aull has exhibited widely across Aotearoa, Fiji, Australia, the United States, and Morocco, where she presented at the Casablanca Biennale in 2018.

Her work is both deeply personal and politically resonant, weaving Māori and Pacific perspectives to interrogate identity, ritual, and the role of art in cultural wellbeing. Recent projects include Toi is Rongoā (Waikato Museum, 2022), a significant exhibition that centered mātauranga Māori and artistic expression as the methodology for health and wellbeing; her ongoing work as a member of The Veiqia Project was recognised with the Pacific Heritage Art Award by Creative New Zealand in 2025.

She has also been instrumental in establishing kaupapa that strengthen Indigenous arts and cultural practice, including Āhua Gallery for New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute and project manager for Haumanu Collective a group dedicated to the vitalisation of Taonga Puoro. Alongside this, Aull maintains strong international engagement, contributing to projects and networks that connect and advance Pacific artists globally.

Beyond the studio, Aull is a respected arts advocate, serving on advisory groups for Toi Māori Aotearoa, Creative New Zealand, Toi Ngā Puhi, and Toi Tūwharetoa. Her work situates her practice across communities, and spaces of revitalisation whilst facilitating a number of events that celebrates cultural identity

Chris Bailey

Chris Bailey (b.1965) lives on Waiheke Island and is of Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Porou, descent. In the early 2000’s he studied Māori material culture at Auckland University before becoming a full-time sculptor and carver.

Much of his work is monumental public artwork which is informed by his heritage as he works to engage the public with Māori concepts and return his peoples voice to the physical landscape. Working in bronze, stone and timber his works are held in both public and private collections throughout New Zealand and globally.

He was granted Te Ara Whakarei – lifetime Toi Iho status by Creative NZ in 2005, James Wallace Trust New Zealand Sculptor in 2014, and Creative Visionary Award / Ko te tohu whakanui mō te ringatoi by HMBA in 2025. He has exhibited in several Sculpture on the Gulf events

Tangaroa Birch

Tangaroa Birch (b. 1976 Ngāpuhi, Ngāi Tawake, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rakaipaaka) is a Māori artist known for his innovative practice, Painting With Light, where carving and etching create reflective surfaces that capture and refract light into shifting colour, and movement. His works draw from Māori spiritualism and his upbringing in the moana—echoing ripples, tides, maramataka, and kōrero tuku iho from his whānau’s East Coast and Taitokerau connections. Birch’s practice also reflects on the political, social, and economic realities of Māori in Aotearoa.

He holds a Master of Māori Visual Arts from Massey University, where he formerly lectured in the Toioho ki Āpiti programme. Birch is currently leading a major new Civic Precinct project in Ahuriri–Napier while exhibiting nationally and internationally. He is represented by Martin Browne Contemporary, Milford Gallery, and Foenander Gallery.

SJ Blake

SJ Blake (b.1983) is an experimental artist and performance designer based on Waiheke Island. After studying at the Motley Theatre Design Course in London in 2007, she has worked across experimental performance while steadily moving toward a fine arts practice.

Blake explores mixed media, combining digital technologies with handmade processes to create new aesthetics, meanings, and emotional curiosities. Recent projects include Nikau Superette (Participating Artist)-New Lynn dairy, Tinned Goods – Anomalous Gallery / Studio One Toi Tū and Night Flight (a community site specific performance)-the culmination of a six-month Blake NZ artist residency.

Her immersive performance A Fantastical Journey by Boat, which incorporated VR, was selected to represent Aotearoa at the 2021 ARS Electronica Festival. Environmental decline and the ocean remain central themes in her work.

Elliot Collins

Elliot Collins is an artist, researcher, and tutor who works across a range of media within the visual arts. He gained a practice-led Ph.D. from AUT University in 2019, researching Memory Markers in the Landscape in Aotearoa New Zealand.

His interests focus on ideas of present/absent texts within ‘memory markers’ in Aotearoa New Zealand, alongside motifs that represent distinctive forms of meaning-making narratives. Collins’ practice references poetry and language, the naming of things, as well as memorials, memory, and time. He aims to expand ways of recording and documenting silences in relation to the environment and cultural narratives, contributing to expanded knowledges.

Born in Tāmaki Makaurau in 1983, he now lives and works in Waitara, North Taranaki with his wife, son, and dog, on the whenua of Te Ātiawa.

Artist Collective: Judy Darragh, Qianye & Qianhe Lin, Sean Kerr

Land Raft: Signals and Collectivity (working title) Wood, metal, electronics, recycled materials.

Judy Darragh ONZM (b. 1957 Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand) is an artist who makes brightly coloured sculptural assemblages, collage, video, and photography. Judy Darragh lives and works in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland where she has played a significant role in the development of ARTSPACE Aotearoa, artist-run spaces in Auckland Teststrip and Cuckoo. She was a co-editor of Femisphere, a publication supporting women’s art practices in Aotearoa. Judy is a founder member of Arts Makers Aotearoa, an artist’s advocacy organisation.

Qianye 林千葉 and Qianhe Lin 林千和 (Hailing Island, China; Aotearoa New Zealand) are siblings who work as a duo. They work with multi-channel video installation and publication with a focus on interdisciplinary practice and collaborative processes. They are interested in the material lineage of belief systems and collective understanding, and how disoriented positions make possible multiple truths and a poetics for relation and solidarity. They have exhibited at Auckland Art Gallery, Te Tuhi Contemporary Art Gallery, Coastal Signs, The Physics Room, and Papatūnga. In 2025, they received the Springboard Award in visual arts by the Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi.

Sean Kerr lives in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland, where he is Associate Professor at Te Waka Tūhura, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland. He specialises in real-time 3D, VR, and interactive technologies. Kerr’s practice spans interactive art, mixed realities, physical computing, installation, and sound, with a sustained engagement in emerging technologies documented through exhibitions and publications. His recent projects include dududududududududududu-pssssshhhht! (Whangārei Art Museum, 2024), Ba Dum Tss (Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, 2024), and A random rant (Lightship, Auckland, 2022). Collaborative works include In Kahoots with Judy Darragh (Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetū, 2020–21).

Sione Faletau

Dr. Sione Faletau (b. 1991) is an Aotearoa-born Tongan artist based in Ōtara, South Auckland. His multidisciplinary practice spans performance, sculpture, installation, and digital art.

He completed a BFA (Hons, First Class) in 2013, an MFA (Hons, First Class) in 2015, and a Doctor of Fine Arts in 2022 at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland. His doctoral research examined Tongan masculinity from an Indigenous perspective, drawing on Talanoa conducted with more than 140 people across the Tongan islands of ‘Eua, Ha‘apai, Niuatoputapu, Tongatapu, and Vava‘u.

Grounded in Moana knowledge systems—particularly ongo (sound, feeling, presence) and kupesi (patterns)—Faletau’s recent work explores sonic mark-making and projection mapping to create immersive spatial environments.

He was part of the inaugural Creative Australia & Creative New Zealand Digital Fellowship (2022) and has undertaken residencies with Te Pūnaha Matatini and Tautai. His work has been presented in major exhibitions including the Hawai‘i Triennial, Bundanon Art Museum, and the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.

Anton Forde

Forde (Taranaki, Gaeltacht, Gaelic, English) is widely celebrated both locally and internationally for his esteemed sculptural practice, which explores whakapapa, wairua, and our profound connection to the natural world. His work bridges tradition and contemporary form, honouring Māori worldviews while engaging universally with themes of identity, guardianship, and spirituality. Grounded in indigenous knowledge yet resonant across cultures, his sculptures invite reflection on our responsibilities to the whenua and to one another.

Forde studied under Professor Robert Jahnke within the Māori Visual Arts programme, Toioho ki Āpiti, at Massey University, where he completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Māori Visual Arts with Distinction, followed by a Master of Māori Visual Arts with First-Class Honours. His academic grounding continues to inform a practice deeply committed to cultural continuity and artistic innovation.

Gill Gatfield

Gill Gatfield (b. 1963) lives in Whangaparāoa. She completed a Master of Fine Arts (Hons) in 2004 and Bachelor of Laws in 1988 from University of Auckland. Her abstract sculptures and installations address ancestral intelligence and speculative futures, in real and virtual worlds.

She was artist in residence at NARS Foundation New York 2025, Foreign Objekt 2024–25, Saas-Fee Art Institute NYC 2024, Poison Creek 2023–24, Ionion Center Greece 2023, Vermont Studio Centre USA 2019, and KØN Museum Denmark 2015. Her work is exhibited internationally, including at Sculpture by the Sea, Venice Art Biennale 2022 European Cultural Centre, Kunstverein Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz Berlin, UNESCO Geopark Ionion Islands, and Venice Architecture Biennale 2018.

Gill has public sculptures in Auckland and Sydney. She created the virtual monument HALO for Wellington Sculpture Trust 40th Anniversary, presented also at Waitangi and New York.

Jacquelyn Greenbank

Jacquelyn Fang Greenbank is a self-portrait installation artist whose practice questions cultural identifiers and social histories through the thematic vehicle of food and plant knowledge. Working across installation and sculpture, she draws on her mixed Chinese/European ancestry to investigate assimilation, inherited culture, and the value of what we choose to monumentalise and pass on.