Rewilding

Rewilding presents viewers with two divergent garden paths – alternative routes to consider how artists have explored gardens, the environment, and what might happen when nature finally prevails. In some of the works in this exhibition, gardens represent formal spaces of respite and sanctuary, as a private oasis from which to escape the outside world. In George Butler’s Mother and Child (1903) the associations of a tranquil garden amplify the feeling of maternal love and connection that is the subject of the painting. The Gallery’s decorative arts collection abounds with examples of the way in which garden scenes, abundant with flowers, plant life, and exotic animals, have been transported into homes on ceramics, glass, furniture, and textiles. Moving forward in time, Robin White’s Fortress House, Paremata (1973) takes a glimpse into the post-war suburb, its tightly manicured garden a direct challenge to the wilderness and the unwieldy forces of nature.

Yet in the face of this desire to shape the environment to human wants and needs, nature has a way of fighting back. Other works in Rewilding steer us down the path less trodden, shaped by the rhythms of the earth, and its seasons and elemental forces. A founder of the Art Brut movement, Jean Dubuffet’s Personnages dans un Jardin presents a raw and textural garden, while Phillip Trusttum’s Dead Sunflowers (c.1973) celebrates the seasonal cycles of growth and decay. Christine Hellyar’s Mixing – A Thought Cupboard (1983) gathers stones, birds’ eggs, nests and other items into a domestic cabinet, objects which connect to the mysteries and activities of wild places. Following the idea of Rewilding, a conservation movement prioritising ecological restoration over human intervention, these artists look to the wild garden as a place of endless potential and renewal.

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Ka whakatakotoria e Rewilding e rua kā ara māra e takoki ana - E rua kā ara e whakaarohia ana te whakatōmene o kā rika toi ki kā māra, ki te taiao, ā, ki te otika atu ina e kaha ake ai te ao tūroa. I ētahi o kā mahi ki tēnei whakaaturaka, ka noho ko te māra hei kanohi mō tē tāka manawa, mō te punaka, he rake haumako tūmataiti e huri tuarā ana ki te ao hurihuri nei. Ki te mahi Mother and Child (1903) nā George Butler, ka whakarahi ake ko kā pāka o te māra mākoha ki te aroha hereka kore o te hākui, koina te kaupapa matua o te peita nei. Ka whakamakuru te kohika toi pūkiore nei ki kā tauira o te aro o kā tirohaka māra, kikī ana ki kā putiputi, ki kā otaota, ki kā kararehe rāwaho anō hoki ko kawea atu ki kā whare ki ruka i te matapaia, te kōata, kā tautara whare, ā, kā papaka anō hoki. Ki te koke whakamua, ka karipi atu te mahi a Robin White, Fortress House, Paremata (1973) ki te wāhaka tāone ā muri mai i te pakaka, ko te āta whakarākai o tōhona māra he wero tōtika ki te koraha, ki te āhuataka mohoao tou o te ao tūroa. 

Ekari ahakoa te koiko nui o te takata ki te ahuahu, ki te panoni i te taiao ki tā rātau e pīraki ai, ka kakari tou atu te ao tūroa. Ētahi atu mahi toi ki Rewilding ka rūnāhia tātau ki tētahi ara e kore te mahi o te takata e para ana, ko ahuahutia kētia e kā manawataki o te whenua, ōhona tau, ōhona tūpana taiao. Ko whakatakotoria e tētahi o kā kaiwhakapūmau o te rakatohe Art Brut ko Jean Dubuffet tētahi māra take waihaka, take kaitara, me tana mahi toi Personnages dans un Jardin, kai whakanui ana tā Phillip Trusttum’s Dead Sunflowers (c.1973) kā hurihaka tau o te ora, o te pōpopo hoki. Ka whakaemihia e Mixing – A Thought Cupboard (1983) nā Christine Hellyar, he kōhatu, he hua manu, he kōhaka, ā, mē ētahi atu mea tūemi ki tētahi kāpata kāika, he mea hono aua tūemi katoa ki kā kōrero porehu me kā mahi hihiri o te whenua mohoao. Ki te whai i te whakaaro nui o Rewilding, he rakatohe whakauka e whakamātāmua ana te whakarauorataka o te taiao ki ruka ake i te whawheka o te takata. Ka titiro atu ēnei rika toi ki te māra mohoao hai wāhi pitomata i kore, hai wāhi whakahou.