Two solo exhibitions - by Ngaroma Riley and Akemi Shimada
Fri, 09 Feb
|HEOA! Gallery, Level One
Presented by HOEA! Gallery and accompanied by a workshop (see details below)
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…