Watershed
Gary Blackman
Chris Corson-Scott
Ayesha Green
Jae Hoon Lee
Doris Lusk
Selections from Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka
08 June – 29 November 2024
Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery and Te Wāhanga Aronui Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences are proud to present this selection of work from Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection, foregrounding contemporary artistic approaches to the environment at Rutherford House on the Pipitea Campus.
Chosen by students in FHSS406 “Topics in the Environmental Humanities”, these works trouble where the human begins and the environment ends; where a body of water emerges and its sources persist; where the past remains vibrant and new horizons appear.
The Environmental Humanities is a developing field that approaches these problems by drawing together perspectives from anthropology, art history, geography, literary studies, media studies, and more. FHSS406 has surveyed key texts to question existing bodies of knowledge, expanding our sense of how humanistic inquiry contributes to understanding the planetary transformations that we are a part of. These multidisciplinary perspectives challenge assumptions about where critical activism begins and recognise the possibilities that ghosts and monsters offer for different futures.
This final project brings together artworks with experimental and speculative writing that prompts critical and creative thinking about what it means to inhabit the planet today, here in Aotearoa.
FHSS406 (2024) is: Abigail Shepherd, Alex Lyth, Amy Holtman, Damon Lendrum, Hasrut Brar, Kaia Costanza-van den Belt, Maddie Brooks Gillespie, Rachael Brenton-Rule, Sophie Orr
With support from:
Adam Grener, English Literatures and Creative Communication
Susan Ballard, Art History
Sophie Thorn, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery
Installation view Watershed: Selections from Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka, Rutherford House, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.
Chris Corson-Scott, A Poet Writing Before the Falls and Freezing Works, Mataura, 2016, archival pigment print, Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection, purchased as part of the University’s 125-year anniversary celebrations.
Installation view Gary Blackman, Penguin, 1975 and Lake Mahinerangi, 1974, silver gelatin print, Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection, formerly Wellington College of Education Art Collection, accessioned 2009, in Watershed: Selections from Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka, Rutherford House, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.
Gary Blackman, Penguin, 1975, silver gelatin print, Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection, formerly Wellington College of Education Art Collection, accessioned 2009
Gary Blackman, Lake Mahinerangi, 1974, silver gelatin print, Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection, formerly Wellington College of Education Art Collection, accessioned 2009
Installation view Ayesha Green, There Is Power in Grief, 2024, acrylic on canvas, Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection, purchased 2024in Watershed: Selections from Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka, Rutherford House, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.
Jae Hoon Lee, Muriwai, 2010, pigment ink on photorag, Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection, purchased 2012.
Installation view Jae Hoon Lee, Muriwai, 2010, pigment ink on photorag, Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection, purchased 2012, in Watershed: Selections from Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka, Rutherford House, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.
Installation view Watershed: Selections from Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka, Rutherford House, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.
Installation view Doris Lusk, Pump Station, Tuam Street, 1970, oil on board, Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Staff Club Collection, purchased 1970, in Watershed: Selections from Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka, Rutherford House, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, 2024. Photo: Ted Whitaker.
Doris Lusk, Pump Station, Tuam Street, 1970, oil on board, Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Staff Club Collection, purchased 1970.