Fire-lit kettle

Fire lit-kettle
Annie Mackenzie, Ashleigh Taupaki, Georgette Brown, Imogen Taylor with Sue Hillery, Li-Ming Hu, Salote Tawale
Curated by Sophie Davis
19 June–25 July 2020

Creative energy is frequently spoken about in relation to a particular kind of passion or ignition, from the feeling of an initial spark to a sense of burnout. We often circle around the metaphor of tending a fire when trying to grasp at this as a question of maintenance as well as one of intuition. This speaks to resources, knowledge and relationships that require ongoing care and attention.

Fire-lit kettle is an exhibition that takes this language as a starting point to engage a group of women artists, motivated by the desire to explore its affective and critical potential. Annie Mackenzie presents a sculpture and voice message that reflects on a somewhat tense conversation around how to make a living and life from craft or art. Salote Tawale tests a kind of expanded self-portraiture, using a pop song to think about dynamics of representation and power through moving image. Li-Ming Hu has contributed two videos that provide humorous and absurd commentary on how we understand notions of “performance" in art and life. Artist and musician Georgette Brown has developed a new series of paintings where joy, pleasure and anxieties work together in surreal, almost psychadelic landscapes. Ashleigh Taupaki’s sculptures grapple with forms of hearsay, memory and conversations between generations, and Imogen Taylor has collaborated with partner Sue Hillery to develop a painted intervention in the gallery that speaks to queer relationships as a driving force in creative production.

Grounded in legacies, livelihoods and desires, the works included offer different perspectives on how to sustain and understand creative practice, gravitating to what is raw over what is resolved.

Read more at enjoy.org.nz.

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