Sofia Tekela-Smith, Lisa Walker & Areta Wilkinson: Pepeha

This month sees an international jewellery symposium 'JEMposium' take place in Wellington and to mark that event we are presenting the work of three leading conceptual jewellers.

31 Janurary - 25 February 2012

You are warmly invited to the opening preview and to meet the artists, Tuesday 31st January 5.30 - 7.30pm.

The title for this exhibition derives from Areta Wilkinson’s investigation of “jewellery as pepeha”. Pepeha are commonly a mihi, the Maori introduction providing a structure for an individual to tell their story, their history - however they can also be pithy proverbs or witticisms. While it has been argued that pepeha are embedded in whakapapa and a Maori world view, a broader interpretation provides the framework for this exhibition with the work of each artist presenting a distinct personal and cultural history.

What the artists have in common is the production of work that interrogates the nature, purpose and possibilities of jewellery - without abandoning the medium’s essential connection to the body and its role as adornment.

Wilkinson (Kai Tahu) says her practice has developed as an exploration of the sense of place inherent in tūrangawaewae and involves a search for “a craft methodology unique to Aotearoa New Zealand". Her ‘aberrant’ pendants in this exhibition reference moa hunter fashions described by Roger Duff in his 1950 publication The Moa-Hunter Period of Maori Culture.

Similarly the work of Sofia Tekela-Smith, which directly reflects and celebrates her mixed Rotuman Scottish heritage, has been concerned with challenging and exposing stereotypical notions of the noble savage in paradise.

All three artists have exhibited widely in New Zealand and internationally and Lisa Walker, whose surprising and frequently amusing work particularly challenges traditional jewellery aesthetics, has been described as one of New Zealand's most internationally successful jewellers. Last October at the opening of her solo exhibition Wearable at the Cobra Museum of Modern Art near Amsterdam she was presented with the prestigious Françoise van den Bosch Award for jewellery art. The Award has led to further exhibitions in New York and London and a major new project will form part of Christchurch Art Gallery’s reopening programme in early 2012.

E: info@bartleyandcompanyart.co.nz

Event listed by Alison Bartley

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