2–3pm
event Details
Please note: This event has now sold out.
This May, we are proud to be hosting Dame Robin White for a celebration of the major new publication, Robin White: Something Is Happening Here. A true national treasure and one of Aotearoa’s most beloved contemporary artists, Robin will be sharing the stage with the book’s editors, Sarah Farrar, Jill Trevelyan and Nina Tonga. Following a panel discussion and Q&A, attendees will be able to purchase signed copies of the new landmark book.
Jointly published by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and Te Papa Press, Robin White: Something Is Happening Here is the first book to be devoted to Robin White’s art in 40 years. Its assessment of her remarkable 50 years as an artist includes fresh perspectives by 24 writers and interviewees from Australia, the Pacific and Aotearoa New Zealand and celebrates her status as one of our most important artists.
The book comes just ahead of a major retrospective exhibition of the same name, opening at Te Papa in June before travelling to Auckland Art Gallery this October.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Dame Robin White is widely recognised as one the most important figures in contemporary New Zealand art. Across a remarkable 50 year career, her painting and printmaking has helped to shape a visual language for life in Aotearoa. Robin has exhibited widely in local and international exhibitions including the Sydney Biennale and the Asia-Pacific Triennial. In the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours, Robin was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to painting and printmaking, and in 2009 she accepted redesignation as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Dr Sarah Farrar is a curator and writer based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. She is currently the head of the curatorial department at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki where she is responsible for the curatorial, research library and archives, learning and public programmes teams. Sarah‘s doctoral research examines strategies of curatorial activism in local and international art galleries and museums. For twenty years, she has curated exhibitions and contributed to art publications, including books, catalogues and journal articles, in Aotearoa, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, China and the UK. Sarah’s research interests in the complexities and strengths of cross-cultural exchange and collaboration, along with her motivation to see senior women artists duly acknowledged, have drawn her to Robin White’s work.
Jill Trevelyan is a Wellington art historian and curator. She is the editor of Rita Angus: An Artist’s Life (Te Papa Press, 2021) and Toss Woollaston: A Life in Letters (Te Papa Press, 2004). Her biography of Peter McLeavey won Book of the Year award at the 2014 New Zealand Post Book Awards.
Dr Nina Tonga is Curator Contemporary Art at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Nina has been involved in a number of writing and curatorial projects in New Zealand the wider Pacific and was Curator of the Honolulu Biennial 2019.
TICKETING
Members $20
Open to AAG Members and those with valid guest passes.
Non-Members $28
This event is part of our membership programme. Join us from $55 per year.
Image credit: Robin White photographed by Paul Chapman. | Robin White: Something Is Happening Here, 2022. Published by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and Te Papa Press.
- Date
2–3pm
- Location
- Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auditorium
- Cost
- Members $20, Non-Members $28