13Aug

23Oct

SHARE/CHEAT/UNITE and LONELY ISLANDS BILLBOARDS

Natasha Matila-Smith, Futuristic Coconut (portion) (from the series Lonely Island), 2016
Inkjet billboard print, commissioned by Te Tuhi, Auckland

“To fit into Western frameworks, we are still trying to either deflect entirely from a Pacific aesthetic or embrace an exoticised version of Pacificness . . . Lonely Island is an attempt to reclaim or birth some semblance of cultural identity lost to colonisation.”
– Natasha Matila-Smith

Natasha Matila-Smith, Futuristic Hibiscus(portion) (from the series Lonely Island), 2016
Inkjet billboard print, commissioned by Te Tuhi, Auckland

Te Tuhi will open their new group show Share/Cheat/Unite, which includes an offsite component for several artists, including Darcell Apelu and John Vea with projects starting in October in and around Auckland. The opening will be 4pm Saturday 13 August which will also include the launch of Natasha Matila-Smith’s Lonely Island billboard series. All components will run until 23 October 2016. A free bus that runs out to Te Tuhi will leave from Artspace, 300 Karangahape rd, at 3.30pm.

Auckland-based artist Natasha addresses the restrictive representation of Pacific culture within a Western European dominated society. In vibrant hues she muddles iconic Pacific flora such as coconuts, frangipani’s and hibiscus flowers by using digital filters pushed to their limits until the imagery starts to ghost, glitch and fracture. These indeterminate images teeter on the balance between the representational and the abstract to deliberately resist the colonial mindset and to carve out a potential future.