ACROSS THREE SHORES
ACROSS THREE SHORES
5 - 30 DECEMBER
Opening Friday 5, December, 5 - 7 pm
CATHY CARTER, CHAUNCEY FLAY, CHLOE STREETER
Cathy Carter describes herself as an artist who uses photography as her medium. Her art practice centres on water, in all its forms, and our complex relationship to it. You may already be familiar with Carter's work, particularly her epic portrayal of our beach culture captured during an artist residency in Waimarama over summer 2017/2018. She drew her inspiration from the locals' stories and myths around the area, and of course, Moto-O-Kura, Bare Island.
For this exhibition Carter presents a body of work born from another residency in Italy this year at Noce Fresca, in the sun-soaked stillness of Milis, Sardegna. Over the course of a month her lens turned to observing scenes of locals and visitors to Sicily and Sardinia engrossed in summer’s rituals. She records the claiming of space on sand or rocks... the choreography of proximity. Often only a hand’s width separates neighbours setting up umbrellas, towels, and coolers, staking territories before retreating for siestas. On the white limestone cliffs of Scala dei Turchi, fully-dressed tourists climb as locals bask in the sun; at Mondello and Capo Gallo, bodies gather, leap, and linger under the weight of heat and leisure. Along Sardinia’s quartz beaches of Oristano, the landscape shimmers with serenity and unease.
Chauncey Flay, a guest artist who resides between Rarotonga and New Zealand, will be presenting his beautiful and thought-provoking Seawall collection of small coral and mastic sculptural blocks. The coral reef surrounding the Islands, which serves as a source of building material as well as protection from pounding seas, is dying back at an unsustainable rate. Climate change causing coral bleaching, combined with increased tourism, contributes to the problem.
The coral Flay uses for his work is all reclaimed from the Island's demolition sites. It is mixed with mastic and cement, then ground down and polished to perfection. Under his hand the discarded coral takes on a new life; one of beauty and archaeological interest that returns some of its former dignity. Next comes the exquisite packaging Flay has sourced... white and Tiffany blue presentation boxes embossed with the word, SEAWALL to encase the sculptural blocks. They echo the reef itself: precious, endangered and increasingly commodified.
Alongside Carter's photography and Flay's sculptures, we are showing local emerging artist, Chloe Streeter, whose charming paintings capture lazy days around the pool and remind us of summer in Hawke's Bay. Streeter, who has only recently taken up painting , has been captivating us with her playful yet thoughtful exploration of the human condition, delving into complex subjects with innocence and sincerity. Her charming, naïve style and bright, intense colour palette offset the complexities of the themes her work explores.
This is shaping up to be an exciting show with three fabulous artists employing three different disciplines: photography, sculpture and paint. We are looking forward to seeing these works side by side, and eager to engage in what new conversations they may provoke.