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Two solo exhibitions - by Ngaroma Riley and Akemi Shimada

Fri, 09 Feb

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HEOA! Gallery, Level One

Presented by HOEA! Gallery and accompanied by a workshop (see details below)

Two solo exhibitions - by Ngaroma Riley and Akemi Shimada
Two solo exhibitions - by Ngaroma Riley and Akemi Shimada

Time & Location

09 Feb 2024, 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm

HEOA! Gallery, Level One, 100 Grey Street, Gisborne 4010, New Zealand

About the event

HOEA! presents two solo exhibitions - by Ngaroma Riley and Akemi Shimada.

AKEMI SHIMADA - イカラカラ  Ikarkar (to embroider)

Akemi Shimada is an Ainu elder, activist and award winning artist. Only in 2019, were Ainu formally and legally recognised as an indigenous people of Japan. Raised in an Ainu speaking household, artist Akemi Shimada hid her cultural background from a young age for fear of discrimination. However, an encounter with Māori inspired her to start learning more about her culture and share it with others. She created the Aotearoa Ainu Mosir Exchange Programme, formed to empower Ainu through learning from Māori working to revitalise language and culture. She has brought Ainu groups to Aotearoa/ New Zealand on two occasions and hosted Māori groups in Japan on several occasions.

2024 is a significant year for Ainu-Māori relations, as it marks 100 years since T.W.Rātana visited Japan during his world tour in 1924. In late January 2024, a ceremony was held at Te Papa Tongarewa to celebrate Akemi's gifting of kakahu Ainu to the national museum in acknowledgement of the Ainu-Māori relationship.

We are privileged that a selection of Akemi's traditional hand embroidered Ainu garments will be coming to Te Tairawhiti and will be on public display at HOEA!

Akemi will attend the opening of the exhibition and on Saturday February 10 at 11am she will give a presentation on the whakapapa of her mahi and a workshop on creating Ainu embroidery patterns.

Spaces will be limited for the Saturday talk and workshop so please email hoeagallery@gmail.com to register.

NGAROMA RILEY - Portait of an Artist as a Karetao

Ngaroma Riley (Te Rarawa, Te Aupouri, Pākehā) is an artist, project coordinator, and people connector based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. 'Portrait of an Artist as a Karetao' is her first solo exhibition - a collection of hand carved and painted wooden karetao (puppets) depicting Ngaroma in the many different roles she performs/embodies day to day.

Ngaroma began her carving journey making buddhist statues while living and working in Japan. Since returning to Aotearoa in 2020 she has completed a Certificate in Whakairo at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. In 2022 she made her first public work as part of a team who built a Tomokanga in Kaitaia. In 2023 she was shortlisted for the Kiingi Tuheitia Portraiture Award.

Ngaroma will be attending the opening event on February 9 and will discuss her practice alongside her close friend Akemi Shimada. Ngaroma has played a pivotal role in bringing Akemi and other Ainu artists to Aotearoa so it is beautiful that HOEA! is able to provide space for these two exhibitions to be displayed side by side.

The end time is approximate.

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