Summer Performance Series
Featuring performances by Nina Oberg Humphries, Vaimaila Urale, Faith Wilson and Leafa Wilson
In the CoCA Toi Moroki Summer Performance Series, supported by the CCC Transitional Fund, artists were invited to respond to the context of Ōtautahi Christchurch, and to develop a performance activating transitional spaces in the CBD. The artists were encouraged to look beyond the 'post-earthquake' status and consider performances in relationship to their own identities and experiences. At a time when the city is re-emerging, these works offer a chance to consider the diverse socio-political and cultural narratives that intertwine, shaping our identities.
The Artists
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Faith Wilson
Faith Wilson
New ZealandFaith Wilson is an artist and writer from Kirikiroa currently based in Te Whanganaui-a-Tara. She completed her BA in English Literature and Philosophy at Waikato University, Honours in English Literature and MA in Creative Writing at Victoria University/International Institute of Modern Letters. Faith's practice moves between the disciplines of writing, performance and video.
Photo credit: Janet Lilo
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Leafa Wilson
Leafa Wilson
New ZealandLeafa Wilson is an accomplished artist, curator and writer based in Waikato, New Zealand. Her commitment to the arts spans twenty-eight years where she has become a pioneer for curatorial practices. In 2004, Wilson was appointed the role of Curator of Art at Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, making her the first person of Pacific descent to hold an institutional role as an art curator. Since then, Wilson has diversified the museum collection and developed exhibitions with leading New Zealand and International artists including Suji Park: Not Very So 2013; the exhibition series Letters to the Ancestors: Contemporary Indigenous Art from Aotearoa and the Pacific 2005; and Dolly Mix (W) Rapper 2002.
As an artist, Wilson is revered for her experimental performances and multi-media installations. She has often worked under the nom de guerre Leafa Wilson a.k.a Olga Krause, a name that queries the boundaries of indigenous and Western ideologies and re-colonising her own name with her black body . Her diverse interests have resulted in unique collaborations and projects such as the art zine Pre/Post Rapture; the performance work Anthro. 101 with Dr. Nichola Harcourt and Faith Wilson; Hedwig and George (with Georgina Watson) and ongoing collaboration with her daughter, writer and poet, Faith Saufo’i Wilson. Her musical interests are a blend of performance art and music with her art band Bushwig as well as musical projects with Alex Mustard (of Lookie Loos) band,The Jansens and playing tenor horn for the Monster Orkestra under bohemian composer and conductor, Justine Francis. Leafa Wilson a.k.a Olga Krause has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions and held artist residencies at the University of Queensland Brisbane in 2006 and the Burke Museum, Washington D.C. in 2005.
Text By Ane Tonga, 2015
Image: Te Manawa
Leafa Wilson -
Nina Oberg Humphries
Nina Oberg Humphries
New ZealandChristchurch born and bred, Nina Oberg Humphries (b.1990), is of Cook Island and Pakeha descent. Nina studied towards a Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in Sculpture at Ilam School of Arts in Christchurch between 2013- 2015. Nina’s work explores her dual Pacific and Western heritage. Through the use of traditional Polynesian art forms such as Tivaevae, costume and dance, combined with elements of popular culture, she seeks to convey issues of gender, identity and social politics.
Nina’s exhibition history includes The Drowned World, Silo Park Auckland, The Physics Room Christchurch, Enjoy Gallery, Wellington, 2014;The NZ Art Show, Wellington, 2014; Between This, Man Friday 2015 P.O.A, Cathedral Junction, Christchurch 2014; Remake-Remodel, SOFA Gallery, Christchurch 2014.
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Vaimaila Urale
Vaimaila Urale
New ZealandVaimaila Urale is an Auckland based artist. Born in Samoa much of her artmaking process draws on traditional Samoan elements expressed through digital media and contemporary social art practices.
Referencing early computer image making known as ASCII, Urale explores digital mark making utilising universal computer keyboard characters / \ backslash and forward slash, as well as mathematical symbols < > less-than and greater-than. Using this process, she has designed tattoo’s, screen prints, ceramics as well as a large scale public mural.
Vaimaila Urale graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Auckland University of Technology(AUT) 2010 and received the Head of School Visual Arts award. Her art practice has a strong focus on collaboration and audience engagement . She is known for her work as part of the art collective D.A.N.C.E art club and her involvement with Whau arts festival in Auckland. Her work has been exhibited locally at Dowse Art Museum and Mangere Arts Centre, as well as internationally; at SOMArts, San Francisco, Fei Contemporary Art Center, China and Blak Dot Gallery, Australia.
Faith Wilson
New Zealand
Faith Wilson is an artist and writer from Kirikiroa currently based in Te Whanganaui-a-Tara. She completed her BA in English Literature and Philosophy at Waikato University, Honours in English Literature and MA in Creative Writing at Victoria University/International Institute of Modern Letters. Faith's practice moves between the disciplines of writing, performance and video.
Photo credit: Janet Lilo
View artworkLeafa Wilson
New Zealand
Leafa Wilson is an accomplished artist, curator and writer based in Waikato, New Zealand. Her commitment to the arts spans twenty-eight years where she has become a pioneer for curatorial practices. In 2004, Wilson was appointed the role of Curator of Art at Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato, making her the first person of Pacific descent to hold an institutional role as an art curator. Since then, Wilson has diversified the museum collection and developed exhibitions with leading New Zealand and International artists including Suji Park: Not Very So 2013; the exhibition series Letters to the Ancestors: Contemporary Indigenous Art from Aotearoa and the Pacific 2005; and Dolly Mix (W) Rapper 2002.
As an artist, Wilson is revered for her experimental performances and multi-media installations. She has often worked under the nom de guerre Leafa Wilson a.k.a Olga Krause, a name that queries the boundaries of indigenous and Western ideologies and re-colonising her own name with her black body . Her diverse interests have resulted in unique collaborations and projects such as the art zine Pre/Post Rapture; the performance work Anthro. 101 with Dr. Nichola Harcourt and Faith Wilson; Hedwig and George (with Georgina Watson) and ongoing collaboration with her daughter, writer and poet, Faith Saufo’i Wilson. Her musical interests are a blend of performance art and music with her art band Bushwig as well as musical projects with Alex Mustard (of Lookie Loos) band,The Jansens and playing tenor horn for the Monster Orkestra under bohemian composer and conductor, Justine Francis. Leafa Wilson a.k.a Olga Krause has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions and held artist residencies at the University of Queensland Brisbane in 2006 and the Burke Museum, Washington D.C. in 2005.
Text By Ane Tonga, 2015
Image: Te Manawa
View artworkNina Oberg Humphries
New Zealand
Christchurch born and bred, Nina Oberg Humphries (b.1990), is of Cook Island and Pakeha descent. Nina studied towards a Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in Sculpture at Ilam School of Arts in Christchurch between 2013- 2015. Nina’s work explores her dual Pacific and Western heritage. Through the use of traditional Polynesian art forms such as Tivaevae, costume and dance, combined with elements of popular culture, she seeks to convey issues of gender, identity and social politics.
Nina’s exhibition history includes The Drowned World, Silo Park Auckland, The Physics Room Christchurch, Enjoy Gallery, Wellington, 2014;The NZ Art Show, Wellington, 2014; Between This, Man Friday 2015 P.O.A, Cathedral Junction, Christchurch 2014; Remake-Remodel, SOFA Gallery, Christchurch 2014.
View artworkVaimaila Urale
New Zealand
Vaimaila Urale is an Auckland based artist. Born in Samoa much of her artmaking process draws on traditional Samoan elements expressed through digital media and contemporary social art practices.
Referencing early computer image making known as ASCII, Urale explores digital mark making utilising universal computer keyboard characters / \ backslash and forward slash, as well as mathematical symbols < > less-than and greater-than. Using this process, she has designed tattoo’s, screen prints, ceramics as well as a large scale public mural.
Vaimaila Urale graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts from Auckland University of Technology(AUT) 2010 and received the Head of School Visual Arts award. Her art practice has a strong focus on collaboration and audience engagement . She is known for her work as part of the art collective D.A.N.C.E art club and her involvement with Whau arts festival in Auckland. Her work has been exhibited locally at Dowse Art Museum and Mangere Arts Centre, as well as internationally; at SOMArts, San Francisco, Fei Contemporary Art Center, China and Blak Dot Gallery, Australia.
View artwork