Tania Lewis-Rickard (left) and Tawhai Rickard with one of the sculptures to be displayed in their collaborative wonder boxes at the Tauranga Art Gallery.
Following a two-year redevelopment, the Tauranga Art Gallery will reopen this November with nine exhibitions, featuring artists from Aotearoa, Australia and the Pacific.
The reopening line-up incorporates curated exhibitions and collaborations, including work from Pāpāmoa-based artists Tania Lewis-Rickard (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tūhoe) and Tawhai Rickard (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Uepohatu).
The gallery closed in October 2023 and has undergone a $9.65 million redevelopment, jointly funded by the Tauranga Art Gallery Trust, external community trust grants and Tauranga City Council.
Lewis-Rickard and Rickard collaborated on four “wonder boxes”, each containing different sculptures, patterns and lights that connect to their Māori descent. The boxes are roughly 45cm wide and 50cm high and have been designed for both children and the kids-at-heart to explore inside.
Named Closet History, the couple hoped their installation would shed light on Māori history, helping rangatahi (young people) see that art, history and voices matter.
“We came up with the name after talking about how the Government closed the door on art history in schools – we are literally opening the door with the wonder boxes,” Lewis-Rickard said.
They both felt privileged and honoured to be a part of the reopening line-up.
“It’s quite a unique installation and provides a sense of mystery and exploration.”
The installation was the first time the couple had collaborated on their styles.
“Our practices and styles are quite different, but they complement each other in these wonder boxes we’re putting together,” Lewis-Rickard said.
Rickard’s work is strongly rooted in the sculptural forms of historical Māori narratives.
Lewis-Rickard’s work focuses on layered photography, painting and mixed media, with a focus on cultural patterns and light.
She said merging their styles created an “assemblage space” within the small wonder box spaces.
“Both of our styles and combined narratives coexist really well together.”
She told the Bay of Plenty Times they had structured their work around phases of colonisation, from historical to contemporary times.
“It’s access to our history through fun, quirky art, but that is also hard-hitting the narrative.
“We’re not just telling a Māori story, we’re inviting all audiences to consider how these histories are shared and how they continue to shape the Aotearoa we live in today.
Tawhai Rickard said it took something that was not spoken about and obscured, “making it seen and known”.
One of his sculptures drew inspiration from the 1960s Batman series, turning the “dynamic duo” of Batman and Robin into two Māori superheroes.
The sculpture will be placed inside one of the wonder boxes, combined with patterns designed by Lewis-Rickard and elements of layered photography and text of the local Tauranga Moana environment.
“It’s set on a round, Victorian type of red base and it’s a teapot, with the dynamic duo inside the teapot.”
Standing over the duo is a Victorian-era teacher holding a cane next to a blackboard with multiple lines of text reading “I will not speak Māori”.
“The teapot, tea cup and saucer kind of symbolise British sovereignty and colonisation,” Rickard said.
With a spindle that turns the characters inside the teapot whilst playing a classical tune, he said the sculpture had a certain mysticism to it.
“The way it’s been explained sounds somewhat aggressive, but actually, it’s not. It’s quite whimsical.”
Rickard said he had a responsibility to be a “mouthpiece” for his culture and society.
“Address it, learn from it and use that to bring people together, rather than divide people. It’s [the sculpture] like a discourse with a view to solidarity and unity.”
Toi Tauranga Art Gallery director Sonya Korohina said in a statement that it was vital the work in the gallery represented the best contemporary and historical art.
“Our reopening represents a pivotal moment for the city in arts, creativity and storytelling, and our opening exhibitions reflect and celebrate this.”
The Tauranga Art Gallery will open to the public on November 15.
Korohina said the gallery’s completion marked a “major milestone” and it was a cultural anchor in Tauranga’s Te Manawataki o Te Papa project.
The $306m precinct would include a library and community hub, civic whare (public meeting house), exhibition gallery and museum.
“This is one of the country’s most significant civic precincts currently in development,” Korohina said.
She said having a cultural institution where people could engage with art would build a sense of place and identity.
“With contemporary artists, art enables us to understand and see different perspectives and see the world differently.”
Kaitlyn Morrell is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post. She has lived in the region for several years and studied journalism at Massey University.