Pulling together the works that make up East 2016, Hastings City Art Gallery's biennial exhibition celebrating art excellence in Hawke's Bay, has been both "exciting and complex".
The exhibition opens on Sunday with Auckland's Hopetoun Brown playing an outdoor concert in Civic Square from 1pm.
Putting it together involves inviting a selector, in this case noted New Zealand artist Lisa Reihana; co-ordinating the arrival of the chosen works from the 51 different artists; curating the installation; getting it up; and then welcoming the crowds.
Reihana is an award-winning Auckland-based experimental photographic artist who will represent New Zealand at next year's Venice Biennale. Her job was to choose 51 pieces from the 120 submissions across a range of media from artists with links to Hawke's Bay - no easy task, says gallery director Toni MacKinnon.
One of the successful submitters was Misty Ratima, born in Hastings and of Maori, Pakeha and Indian descent. Her piece is The Constellations in the Sky, Eternal, Immutable, made up of seven portraits.