Ayesha Green: The Radical Utopia of the Great Pacific

Courtesy: the artist and Jhana Millers Gallery, Wellington.

Jhana Millers presents The Radical Utopia of the Great Pacific, a solo exhibition by Ayesha Green that grapples with the coalition government’s attack on Māori. While at first glance this series of paintings might seem like a departure for Green, as with all her works, she asks us to consider the images we consume and the power inherent within them.

Through appropriating the iconic Disney Princess Ariel, this new body of work attempts to represent Māori concerns without treating Māori bodies as consumable images. In this way, Ariel, and her friends in the underwater kingdom, become a vessel to explore the complexities of what it might mean to be Māori living in Aotearoa today.

The Radical Utopia of the Great Pacific challenges us to think about how we tell our own stories and how those stories give us space to cope, to grieve, to work together, and to have hope.

An essay by Francis McWhannell accompanies the exhibition.

Opening Events: Opening Thursday 14 March, from 5.30pm, Kōrero, Tuesday 19 March, from 5.30pm.

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