Rokowhiria Art & Heritage in Ashburton will host The Highlander’s Farewell, an exhibition by artist Ayesha Green.
In it, Green examines nineteenth-century Scottish migration to Aotearoa New Zealand, considering the underpinning social and political factors behind it and the implications for a new nation.
Green, (Kāi Tahu (Ōtākou), Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga, Pākehā), was born in Christchurch and is now based in Bangkok, Thailand.
She explores mātauraka Māori, nation-building and the relation ship between empire and indigeneity through her art.
In 2024, Green spent five months travelling through Great Britain, visiting historical sites and her own ancestral whenua which led her to trace what she describes as a whakapapa of colonisation: the cultural suppression, displacement and economic forces that drove working-class Scots from their lands.
By endeavouring to bring a more nuanced understanding of Aotearoa New Zealand’s colonial histories, Green explores the entanglements and points of connection between them, including the grief that comes through the separation from ancestral land.
Through painting, drawing and sculpture, she reworks historical images to question romantic views of landscape and the power they can conceal.
Green is a prominent contemporary artist in Aotearoa, and has exhibited throughout the country in group and solo exhibitions, including at City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi, Toi Tauranga Art Gallery, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, The Dowse Art Museum and Hastings City Art Gallery Te Whare Toi o Here taunga and Te Papa Tongarewa.
The Highlander’s Farewell has been developed specifically for
Rokowhiria with the support of Creative New Zealand and will be Green’s first solo exhibition in Canterbury.
She has expressed the importance of telling stories in and about Te Waipounamu the South Island.
Her Scottish ancestors settled in Alford Forest, near Ashburton.
Drawing on both her Scottish and Māori heritage, Green explores how these histories meet in Te Waipounamu.
A public opening event will be on Friday, November 20 at 6pm and will feature music by Christchurch-based duo Entrada, specialising in traditional Celtic and Continental European dance music from the 17th century to the present day.
An artist talk will take place on Saturday, November 21 at noon, followed by a painting workshop for adults from 2pm — 5pm.
For more information or to book tickets for this workshop, visit www.rokowhiria.org.nz
Meanwhile, ahead of the exhibit Rokowhiria Art & Heritage will be closed from October 19 to November 15 while a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system is installed.