Derek Cowie, Sweetheart, 2025, Oil and prepared plaster on canvas, 1525mm x 1015mm

My Tribe is Extremely Violent sees Derek Cowie (b. 1956, Ruatoria, New Zealand) confronting his own uncomfortable colonial heritage and those dominant western principles of individualism through a suite of cartoonish portraits. Cowie depicts a cast of fair-skinned, red-nosed men and women clad in absurd but historically accurate sartorial displays of private wealth and status, eyes closed in sorrow or blindness or perhaps inebriated torpor. For Cowie, this rampant individualism coupled with a prevailing economic system that emphasises consumer choice above all else, will ultimately herald the devastation of our natural environment and subsequent societal collapse.

Opening event: Wednesday 30 April, 5pm