Artists Respond: Featuring Riki Gooch & Alistair Fraser

On the final Saturday of Brett Graham: Tai Moana Tai Tangata join us as local musicians and poets weave their own responses through the exhibition.

At 1:00pm, enjoy immersive live music from percussionist Riki Gooch (Ngāi Tāhuhu, Ngāti Mahanga, Patuharakeke) and taonga pūoro practitioner Alistair Fraser (Pākehā). Fraser’s wide array of taonga pūoro sounds – varying from blown flutes and other instruments made from shell, wood, stone and grasses – merges seamlessly with Gooch’s ever-imaginative percussion patterns and rhythms.

This performance will take place in the Hancock Gallery near Brett Graham’s sculpture O’Pioneer.

At 2:30pm, poets Rangimarie Sophie Jolley, Arihia Latham, and Anahera Gildea will respond to the theme and artworks of the exhibition, introduced by Sinead Overbye.

Rangimarie Sophie Jolley (Waikato-Tainui, Ngaati Mahuta, Ngaati Whawhakia) is a writer of prose, poetry, children's stories and long form fiction based in Porirua, Wellington.

Arihia Latham is a Kāi Tahu writer, rongoā practitioner, facilitator and Māmā in Wellington. Her work has been published by Huia, Landfall, Oranui, Foodcourt, Te Whē, Awa Wāhine, The Spinoff and Pantograph Punch. She has presented at Verb festival, NZ festival of the Arts, Auckland Writers festival and Te Hā and is a regular arts columnist for the Dominion Post.

Anahera Gildea (Ngāti Tukorehe) is an essayist, poet, 'artivist', and teacher. Her background is in Creative Writing, Art Theory, Psychology, Education, and Performance. She is the co-editor of Te Whē Journal of Māori Literature and is completing doctoral research to develop critical literary theory based on Māori intellectual traditions.