Student Show 2026

Playing with the tradition of a salon-style hang, Whakawhanaungatanga 2026 features the work of around 40 tertiary students, in a creative collaboration between Ara Institute of Canterbury and Ilam School of Fine Arts.

Whakawhanaungatanga means the process of building and sustaining those multi-layered, flexible, and dynamic relationships and forms the foundation of our communities.

This annual exhibition continues to offer opportunity for connection, communal growth, and for tauira from both institutions to share their work with each other, the community, and the art world.

“Whānau is often translated as ‘family’, but its meaning is more complex. It includes physical, emotional and spiritual dimensions and is based on whakapapa. Whānau can be multi-layered, flexible and dynamic. Whānau is based on a Māori and a tribal world view. It is through the whānau that values, histories and traditions from the ancestors are adapted for the contemporary world.” -Tai Walker, academic.