15 September – 20 October 2018
Hocken Collections, Uare Taoka o Hākena, 90 Anzac Avenue, Dunedin
Curated by Robyn Notman & Andrea Bell
Is it right that while the loafer, the gambler, the drunkard, and even the wife-beater has a vote, earnest, educated and refined women are denied it?i
He tika hoki rā ka whai wāhi te pirorehe, te kaipetipeti, te haurangi, a, te kaipatu wahine anō hoki ki te pōti, engari ka karo atu te poti o te wahine hūmārie, te wahine whai mātauranga me te wahine rangatira?
To mark 125 years of Women’s Suffrage in Aotearoa New Zealand, the Hocken Collections, Uare Taoka o Hākena presents Sisters Communing, an exhibition drawing connections between women’s art and a range of the Hocken’s archival collection items relating to women gaining the vote. Borrowing its title from one of the Hocken’s most treasured artworks by Jacqueline Fahey, Sisters Communing celebrates the artistic, domestic, social and political lives of New Zealand women.
Hei tohu o te 125 tau o te Wāhine Whai Pōti ki Aotearoa, kua whakaatu atu Kā Kohika o Hākena i te whakaaturanga Sisters Communing – Tuahine e Kōrero ana. He whakaaturanga e rangitāmirohia ai i ngā mahi toi o te wahine me ētahi atu taonga nui taioreore nā Jacqueline Fahey. Ka whakanuia e Sisters Communing – Tuahine e Kōrero ana te oranga toi, te wairua tara ā-whare, te ngākau marae, me te reo tōrangapū o te wahine ki Aotearoa.
The exhibition proposes an inclusive approach to feminism and the diversity of women’s experiences across time, with works ranging from a collection of Suffragette badges owned by Lady Anna Stout, to artist Doris Lusk’s painted still life [Flower Study] (1940) and Robyn Kahukiwa’s bold and powerful Mana Wahine Maori (1993).
Ka tonoa atu e te whakaaturanga tētahi tirohanga anō ki te whakakōkiritanga o te mana wahine, ki te kanorau hoki o ngā wheako wahine i te wā, mai te kohinga pine o ngā Wahine Whai Pōti nā Lady Anna Stout ki te whakaahua māori o Doris Lusk [Flower Study] (1940) me te whakaahua whai mana, whai kaha o Robyn Kahukiwa, Mana Wahine Maori (1993).
Further opening up this dialogue, an exhibition at Blue Oyster Project Space in Dowling Street, will present new artworks created in response to selected Hocken collection items – using the 125th anniversary as a starting point to examine the relevance of Women’s Suffrage in Aotearoa New Zealand today.
Hei whakakōkiritanga tonutanga o tēnei matapakinga, kei te Blue Oyster, kei te Tiriti o Dowling, ka whakaatu atu ētahi mahi toi hou, ka whakautu i ngā korero i te kohinga toi wahine ki Hākena. Ko te whakanui o te 125 tau te rito o tēnei mātaitanga ki te mana, ki te tikanga o ngā mahi Wāhine Whai Pōti ki Aotearoa i ēnei rā.
From collective action to personal reflection and individual expression, these two exhibitions will offer a wealth of approaches to women’s rights, achievements, opinions and shared experiences across generations.
Mai te mahinga-tahi, ki te wānanga takitahi, ki te whakaaritanga o te kotahi, ka kitea ngā tini ara, ngā rau tirohanga ki te whakakōkiritanga o te mana wahine, o ā rātou whakatutukinga, o ō rātou whakaro, o ō rātou wheako ki ēnei whakaaturanga e rua.
Image: Jacqueline Fahey, (1929-), Sisters Communing, 1974, oil on board: 1190 x 1012mm, 75/39, purchased from the artist, 1975, Hocken Collections, Uare Taoka o Hākena, University of Otago
i.Kate Sheppard, Is it right? (1892), as quoted in Patricia Grimshaw, Women’s suffrage in New Zealand. Auckland: Auckland University Press, 1987, p. 81, cited by Nancy Swarbrick, 'Domestic violence - Domestic violence in the 19th century', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/domestic-violence/page-2 (accessed 22 June 2018)
