Calendar

8 Aotearoa artists and 1 collective, Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry (SB16), co-curated by Megan Tamati-Quennell

06 February —
16 June 2025

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Fiona Pardington, Portrait of a life cast of Takatahara (painted), Aotearoa New Zealand, 2010 (2024 reprint). From ‘Āhua: a beautiful hesitation’, 2010. Image courtesy of Sharjah Art Foundation. Photo: Ivan Erofeev.

Writing

Fiona Pardington in Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry

23.04.2025

Aotearoa artist and representative for Aotearoa New Zealand at the upcoming 61st Venice Biennale (2026) Fiona Pardington talks to Contemporary HUM about her presentation of works from “Āhua: A beautiful hesitation” (2010) at Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry. In the conversation, she discusses the power of ancestral imagery beyond their capture by colonial pseudoscience, while also offering some early insights into her project for Venice.

Project

Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry

In February 2025, Contemporary HUM was on the ground during the opening week of Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry, co-curated by Aotearoa curator Megan Tamati-Quennell with Alia Swastika, Amal Khalaf, Natasha Ginwala and Zeynep Öz.

Sharjah Biennial 16 convenes under the title “to carry”, a multivocal and open-ended proposition that connects stories and traditions across generations and cultures. The five co-curators of Sharjah Biennial 16 present their projects both individually and collectively, gathering under the rubric of a single proposition: What does it entail to carry a home, ancestors and political formations with you?

Megan Tamati-Quennell’s project assembles a significant number of artists and practitioners from Aotearoa New Zealand: Albert L. Refiti, Ana Iti, Fiona Pardington, Kate Newby, Mara TK, Saffronn Te Ratana, Luke Willis Thompson, Michael Parekōwhai and Te Matahiapo Collective, whose projects collectively speak to themes of place, space and whakapapa (genealogy).

Fiona Pardington, Harrier Tail (below), Hunter, 2022. Inkjet print on Hahnemühle paper.

Calendar

Fiona Pardington, Wairua o te hau

12 November —
23 December 2022

1301SW, Melbourne, Australia

Project

OCEANIA NOW: Contemporary Art from the Pacific

Partnership

Christie's, Paris presents OCEANIA NOW: Contemporary Art from the Pacific, a physical exhibition and an online sale, produced in collaboration with New Zealand gallerists Alison Bartley and John Gow. Featuring 36 works from 14 artists, many based in Aotearoa, this is the institution’s first dedicated auction of works by contemporary artists from the Pacific. HUM is thrilled to be a media partner of this unprecedented project, running from 11 February - 01 March 2022.

Writing

Whose Oceania?

By James Belich, Lana Lopesi, Matariki Williams, Pauline Autet

14.11.2018

Missed HUM's panel discussion Whose Oceania? in London? We're excited to publish the transcript of this discussion, which proved to be a stimulating talk interrogating the themes and issues addressed in the exhibition Oceania at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, as well as the responses to it from across Te Moana Nui a Kiwa.