Current Exhibitions

Nō Konei | From Here

Heritage Galleries

Until 11 May 2025

Nō Konei | From Here features over 200 extraordinary works from the collection, spanning four centuries of European and New Zealand art history, filling our reimagined gallery’s newly expanded spaces. The opening season of exhibitions includes a stunning survey of Edith Collier’s groundbreaking works, solo projects by renowned artists Matthew McIntyre Wilson, Tia Ranginui, and Alexis Neal, as well as newly commissioned pieces from close to 20 artists from across Aotearoa New Zealand. The exhibitions traverse the gallery’s spaces and collection, aiming to create conversations that span across time and media.

Nō Konei | From Here

Te Pātaka o Tā Te Atawhai Archie John Taiaroa

Until 11 May 2025

Many of the contemporary pieces in Nō Konei | From Here, shown in Te Pātaka o Tā Te Atawhai Archie John Taiaroa, were created by artists who are alumni of the gallery’s Tylee Cottage artist-in-residence programme, established in 1986. These works were made in response to time spent in Whanganui, and are shown with new works by over twenty current practitioners.

The artists chosen for this exhibition represent diverse points of view and voices, the commonality being their link to here and what the kaupapa ‘nō konei’ evokes for them.

Christopher Ulutupu Leave Room for Jesus 2024.

Featured are new works by:

Brigham Anderson (Ngāti Hauiti)

Thomas Carroll (Ngāti Maru, Hauraki, Pākehā)

Vanessa Wairata Edwards (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Whakatōhea, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Kuri)

Bruce Foster

Glen Hayward

Areez Katki

James Kirkwood

Cecelia Kumeroa (Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi)

Lauren Lysaght

Catherine Macdonald

Sarah Maxey

Denis O’Connor

Prakash Patel

Ming Ranginui (Te Ati Haunui-a-Pāpārangi)

Frances Stachl (Ngāpuhi)

Lorene Taurerewa

Jade Townsend (Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi)

Chris Ulutupu

Marty Vreede

Naani Waitai (Ngaa Rauru, Ngāti Ruanui, Whanganui nui tonu, Ngā Wairiki, Rangitāne, Kahungunu, Ruapani, Tūhoe, Te Iwi Morehu)

Edith Collier

Early New Zealand Modernist

Until 16 February 2025

Adventurous and experimental, Whanganui painter Edith Collier was one of the outstanding artists of her era in Aotearoa New Zealand. This exhibition takes a fresh look at her achievement, at a time of growing international interest in the work of women modernists.

Born in 1885, the eldest child of a successful businessman, Edith studied at the Wanganui Technical School of Art and Design. With the support of her parents, she sailed to England in 1913 to pursue her career, living in London during the First World War and painting in England and Ireland. Guided by inspiring women teachers, Margaret McPherson (later Preston) and Frances Hodgkins, she developed a bold, dynamic style, based on the principles of post-impressionism.

This is the first major survey of Edith Collier’s art since 1999. It is accompanied by a new book with more than 150 illustrations and contributions by 24 writers, including family members and the descendants of the people Edith painted.

Matthew McIntyre Wilson

Whatu Atu, Whatu Mai: Following the Thread of Knowledge through

Hīnaki, Korotete, and Kupenga

Until 22 June 2025

Matthew McIntyre Wilson is a tangata tiaki of knowledge, with a practice grounded in the deep connections between whenua, whakapapa, and wānanga. The Whanganui Awa has always been more than just a physical presence for McIntyre Wilson (Taranaki Iwi, Tītahi, Ngā Māhanga); it is a living being, one that has shaped his understanding of who he is, and his relationships with uri (descendants) of the Awa.

His practice reflects this understanding, especially through his work in reviving traditional Māori weaving techniques, and in particular, the crafting of hīnaki, kupenga, and korotete.

Alexis Neal

Holding Space

Until 11 May 2025

The title of this exhibition implies a sense of impermanence, a temporary occupation as well as a sense of care, to have and to hold is to cherish, to protect. As a master printmaker and self-taught weaver, Alexis Neal (Ngāti Awa, Te Ātiawa) is drawn to artefacts and the narratives they hold. Her artistic practice brings these artefacts into the light, inviting them to collaborate and inspire, to offer a voice to be woven into a contemporary context of knowledge. Neal’s practice brings life to taonga tuku iho (treasure handed down) reminding us that these taonga are vessels, holding history, holding space.

Tia Ranginui

Ahi Teretere

Until 4 May 2025

Tia Ranginui’s (Ngāti Hine Oneone) photographic series Ahi Teretere plays on the complicated and nuanced emotions provoked by returning home – a concept that for many resounds with familiarity, comfort and belonging. However, for many Māori, “home” can be a loaded ideal that does not translate into our current reality.

Ahi Teretere responds to the emotions provoked for Ranginui in returning to her papa kāinga on Te Awa Whanganui. These images engage with themes of fire and ice – where flames battle desperately against their cold, unwelcoming environments.