
Israel Birch, Content (2012), Mixed media and lacquer on stainless steel, 1000 x 1000mm. Courtesy of artist. Photo: David Lupton.
This exhibition profiles the work of three leading contemporary Maori artists, Shane Cotton, Israel Birch, and Robert Jahnke.
Conceived and curated by the artists, the exhibition hinges on the idea of 'transmission' or 'whakawhiti'; that is, the state of something being transmitted or exchanged from one person or thing to another, be it energy, ideas, information or inspiration. In addition the word 'aria' meaning 'likeness' or 'resemblance', suggests a visual exchange; in this instance motif or iconography.