of forests and concrete is an exhibition of new work by Matt Tini developed from his ongoing research into harakeke as both resonant material and a ground for image-making. Using harakeke harvested from the whenua around Kuku as well as Pukeahu in inner-city Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Tini first processes the flax fibres to make paper, then uses extracts from the crushed plants to create a light-sensitive surface on which to expose photographic images. The resulting works are anthotypes, a historic method of image-making that uses pigments from plant material developed with the light of Tamanuiterā. For this exhibition, Tini has brought these prints together in a stop-motion film, which is presented alongside several inkjet prints on harakeke paper. Though paper making is not a customary practice in te ao Māori, Tini draws upon existing mātauranga and tikanga, alongside material experimentation and research, to expand its possibilities as a medium. Through a reciprocal exploration of his own whakapapa and that of harakeke, Tini works with this traditional material as a site of knowledge transmission and exchange. Notably, the images he produces are self portraits—a collaboration between the artist and te taiao—and, in turn, a reflection on the lived realities of urban Māori and the complexities of the contemporary relationship to whenua.

Ko of forests and concrete tētahi whakaaturanga hou a Matt Tini, i ahu mai i āna rangahau e moroki ana ki te harakeke hei rawatoi tuku iho, hei papa hanga whakaahua hoki. I kohikohi a Tini i te harakeke nei nō ngā whenua o Kuku, nō te pokapū hoki o Te Whanganui-a-Tara, nō Pukeahu. Hei tuatahi ka whakariterite ia i te harakeke e hua mai tētahi pepa, ka rua ia whakamahi ai i ngā wai i tangohia mai i te tupu penutia hei hanga i tētahi mata e urupare ana ki te aho, ki reira huraina ai ētahi whakaahua. He mātātuhi ā-otaota ngā whakaahua i hua mai, arā, he mea hanga e ai ki te huarahi ukiuki mā reira ngā tae i ahu mai i ngā otaota me ngā hihi a Tamanuiterā ka hura ai i te whakaahua. I te whakaaturanga nei kua whakakotahi a Tini i ēnei mātātuhi hei ataata-kati, e whakakitea nei i te taha o ētahi mātātuhi inkjet ki te pepa harakeke. Ahakoa te mea ehara te hanga pepa i tētahi mahi tuku iho a te Māori, kei te whiri tahi a Tini i ētahi o ngā mātauranga me ngā tikanga o rātou mā, me āna whakatōmene, rangahau hoki, e whakawhānuitia ai ō te pepa pitomata hei rawatoi Māori. Mā te āta whakatōmene i ōna anō whakapapa, me te whakapapa o te harakeke hoki, ka tū mai tēnei rawatoi taketake ki a Tini hei wāhi whakawhitiwhiti mātauranga. Ehara i te hanga, he whakaahua kiriaro te maha o āna mahi—he mahinga tahitanga, ko rāua ko te taiao—he huritao hoki mō ngā wheako o te Māori noho tāone, me ngā whakauaua o te hononga ki te whenua i tēnei ao hurihuri.

Sena Park’s practice explores the evolving relationship between human-designed environments and natural ecosystems, two poles held in particular tension within domestic gardens. Encompassing installation, expanded forms of painting, sculpture, photography and moving image, I touch the surface, we draw wild beauty reflects upon human endeavours to define or transform the wildness of nature in these private spaces. The works in this exhibition take inspiration from the artist’s observations of her surroundings and everyday realities across differing locations, including Tāmaki Makaurau and Paihia in Aotearoa, as well as her travels to Mongolia and Japan. Unstretched canvases are hung from steel frames, crafting a series of framed views within the gallery space. Synthetic fabrics and sculptural objects are juxtaposed with tree branches and other plant matter, and presented alongside two photographs of the various gardens encountered by the artist. The exhibition also includes Park’s first work in moving image, in which a clip of a lawn being mowed—that suburban ritual—is repeated to the point of absurdity, rendering futile its attempt at control. With both humour and attention to materials, Park highlights our relationship with and impact upon te taiao, while also celebrating its adaptability and resilience.

Ka whakatōmenetia mā roto i ngā mahi a Sena Park te hononga e kukune tonu ana i waenganui i ngā wāhi i hanga ai te ringa o te tangata me ngā pūnaha hauropi māori, ngā pou e rua nei e tū whakatete ana i tēnei mea te māra tara ā-whare. Mā te toi puni, mā ētahi huarahi peita e whānui ana, mā te toi tārai, mā te hopu whakaahua, mā te toi ata teretere hoki ka huritau ai a I touch the surface, we draw wild beauty i ā te tangata nanaiore ki te tautuhi, ki te panoni rānei i te wairua tūperepere o te taiao i ēnei wāhi tūmataiti. Kua ahu mai ngā mahi toi o tēnei whakaaturanga i tā te ringatoi i kite rā i ngā tini horopaki me ō rātou tūāhuatanga, mai i Tāmaki Makaurau me Paihia i Aotearoa nei, ki Mongōria me Hapani, i a ia e tipiwhenua ana i reira. Arā ngā kānawehi kore kūtoro e iri ana i ngā anga rino, e hua mai ai ētahi kitenga whai taiapa i roto i te wharetoi. Kei te tū tauaro ētahi papanga horihori me ngā taonga tārai ki ētahi peka rākau me ngā otaota, e whakakitea ana i te taha o ngā hopunga whakaahua e rua mō ētahi māra i tūpono ai te ringatoi. Kua whai wāhi hoki i roto i tēnei whakaaturanga te mahi toi ata teretere tuatahi a Park, ki reira tētahi mauti e topengia ai—ko tērā tikanga paenoho ko tērā—e topengia tonu ai, e topengia tonu ai, hoki atu, hoki atu, kia rorohau rā anō te mahi, mā reira tēnei nanaiore ki te whakatuanui i te taiao e noho mūhore ai. Mā tana kanohi hōmiromiro ki ngā rawatoi, mā tētahi wairua pukukata hoki a Park ka miramira ai i tō tātou hononga ki te taiao, ō tātou kawekawe hoki ki tērā, i te wā kotahi ka whakanui hoki ia i te aumangea me te urutau o te taiao.

Waitirohia is an extension of Tessa Russell’s ongoing exploration into He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni me Te Tiriti o Waitangi. 

In Under the Pasture, George Turner presents new work centred on old concerns. Known for their large scale projections featuring experimental digital technologies, Turner’s work is rooted in Pākehā identity and the intersections of nature, technology, and belonging. 

My mum reckons the ground beneath Taranaki will collapse one day and we’ll all fall into a hole. My dad says that the local gas and oil industry fracking the land provided jobs where many were lost due to the closure of the meat works.

This Pipiri June, Enjoy Contemporary Art Space launches our Studio Programme, welcoming four innovative ringatoi to develop new work and reimagine the gallery‘s possibilities. Joining us as our studio and Chapter Three artists, Fetishini (Te Whanganui-ā-Tara), Aroha and Frankie Matchitt-Millar (Te Whanganui-ā-Tara), and p Walters (Tāmaki Makaurau) will transform Enjoy through their boundary-pushing practices.

In 2025, Enjoy Contemporary Art Space partnered with our neighbour Mother of Coffee Ethiopian restaurant to commission a new mural between our premises. From an open call for proposals, we jointly selected Keelin Bell (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Porou, Ngāpuhi). 
 

Where Is My Childhood? by Ali Asfour unravels the reality of a childhood shaped by borders, checkpoints, and the ever-present weight of surveillance. It is not a story of innocence, but of endurance—of children who learn to navigate fear before they learn to dream, who memorise escape routes instead of bedtime stories. This piece is a confrontation, a record of what it means to grow up under occupation, where even play mirrors survival, and where joy itself is an act of defiance.

Through urgent, unflinching prose, Where Is My Childhood? dismantles the illusion of a universal childhood. It offers no comfort, only truth—of a world where laughter exists alongside loss, where identity is a battleground, and where every moment is a quiet rebellion against erasure. This work does not seek permission to be heard. It demands to be seen.

Mariam Tawfik's film The Shamash stays the same but the Atua is different embodies radical sci-fi visions that reimagine indigenous futures—not through Western techno-utopianism, but as a reclamation of Mesopotamia's stolen temporalities. Filmed during her first trip to Iraq in 2024, Tawfik's work rejects both colonial amnesia and fossilised nostalgia, proposing instead an Indigenous Futurism rooted in Iraq's layered history of disruption and its unexpected resonances with te ao Māori. For Tawfik, the future was always buried in the land.

Tīpurepure Au Va’ine is an exhibition featuring the works of the Porirua based Cook Islands sewing group of the same name and multi-disciplinary artist, Jamie Berry. Through the work of tīvaevae and soundscape, these artists pay homage to whakapapa, imagery and oro (sound) reminiscent of their homelands. This offsite exhibition at Begonia House, curated by Tehani Ngapare Rau-Te-Tara Buchanan, honours the many Cook Islanders who have found Begonia House to be a place of connection and inspiration while living in the diaspora.

Maungarongo (Ron) Te Kawa’s exhibition Rutu, Rongo and Rita originated last summer, when the artist spent time as the Rita Angus resident at the historic cottage in Te Whanganui-a-Tara.

During this period, Te Kawa researched Angus while beginning a series of nine wall hangings. Angus’ painting Rutu (1951) in particular interested him. While the work is often referred to as one of Angus’ many self-portraits, Bronwyn Lloyd notes that Angus herself considered it an “imaginary portrait.” [1] Described as a “beautiful, incongruous mash-up of cultures” by Matariki Williams, Rutu is “the most visible and well-known exemplar of a person of colour in Angus’s catalogue” [2], an aspect that holds Te Kawa’s attention as he explores the themes of skin colour politics in Aotearoa’s past, present, and future. In Rutu Goes to Waitangi for Target Practice (2024-25), Te Kawa asks what kind of Pākehā Rutu would be now; ultimately believing that she would be covered in “Tino Rangatiratanga swag…hurling dildos at David Seymour.” [3] Expanding beyond Rutu, he has taken figures from Māori mythology such as Pania of the Reef and pop culture including Amy Winehouse, and re-envisioned them with compassion, humour and hope. The works displayed in this exhibition are an exploration into the themes of skin colour politics in Aotearoa’s past, present, and future.

1. Bronwyn Llyod, “Rutu”, Te Papa, https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/39499.

2. Matariki Williams, “Rita and Rutu”, Newsroom, 01/02/2022, https://newsroom.co.nz/2022/02/01/waitangi-week-rita-in-blackface/.

3. Email correspondence with the artist, 20/01/2025.

Low Tide emerges as a contemplation of queer mundanity. Through the mundane, Manuha’apai Vaeatangitau (Manu Vaea) counteracts the pressure to be extraordinary and instead highlights the quiet, repetitive and often unremarkable moments that define everyday life.

By insisting on the ordinary, Vaea aims to “induce a state that allows for emotions to simmer under the skin without a need for expression.” [1] She has been shaped by ties to family, space and place in Tāmaki Makaurau and Tonga, observing that “these geographies often serve as sacred, yet fractured mirrors, reflecting back my own inner turbulence.” [2] Scenes from the domestic life of the artist in both of her homes in Tāmaki and Tonga feature moments alone, art-making with whānau and nights out with friends. Centering Low Tide around queer mundanity and what sits in the cracks of that—grief, malaise, regret—has allowed Vaea to work through her own mamae without resorting to the oft-overused trauma and pervasive larger-than-life love narratives regularly imposed on queerness. 

1. Email correspondence with the artist, 27/01/2025.

2. Ibid.

In Iterations/Alterations, Catherine Griffiths expands upon her past work while also responding to current events. Griffiths presents a body of work that is ever-evolving, referencing global social and political issues. Unwavering support of Palestine is a focus for the artist, who interrogates her priorities and perspectives amidst the genocide being committed by Israel. Included in this exhibition is a limited edition run of GAZ/A prints—the proceeds from which will go to a charity supporting Palestinians in Gaza.

In Extraordinary Contact, Alexandra McFarlane delves into the liminal space between belief and experience, exploring alien abduction narratives as a lens to examine trauma, memory, and the search for meaning. Anchored in her own childhood memory of a devastating house fire in Ōtautahi, the exhibition reflects on how extraordinary events shape our sense of self and reality.

In Funny how I’m always on the head of a longing arrow, Henrietta Fisher presents an anthology of vignettes interrogating the interplay of bodies, technology and practices of communion. 

Māori for a Free Palestine is a kaupapa by Zines4Pal, a whānau of Ngāpuhi Aunties that love pūoro, drawing, weaving and dismantling systems and ideologies of oppression.

Stitching Solidarity is the first iteration of a collective kaupapa inspired by a long history of collaborative artist-activist quilt making. The project brings artists from across the motu together to enact solidarity with the people of Palestine, through the creation of a solidarity quilt. Each participant has contributed a fabric artwork of set dimensions. These will be stitched together in Enjoy Contemporary Art Space.

Kaka-aku is an exhibition featuring Tehani Ngapare Rau-Te-Tara Buchanan (Ngāti Rupe Makea, Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Mitiaro, Mangaia), Rosalie Koko (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga, Olosega), Bobby Luke (Ngāti Ruanui, Taranaki) and Vince Ropitini (Taranaki, Ngāruahinerangi, Whakatōhea).

BedStageAltar brings together seven artists from across the mōtu on the first weekend of Spring. Hosted by Enjoy Contemporary Art Space and curated by Elvis Booth-Claveria, this event celebrates live performance through the provocation of The Earth is my Bed, my Stage, my Altar. These three sites act as pillars, outlining the spaces that hold our lives in balance and from which the ultimate form performance of experience extends and flows.