When faced with the fear of losing our whakapapa, the question remains: how do we maintain hope in humanity in the face of devastating circumstances?

Whetuurangitia is the transformation from tangata to tipuna by way of stars, responding to current crises Aroha Matchitt-Millar, Rosalie Koko and Mauatua Fa’ara-Reynolds come together to process the unbearable weight of grief for those in Palestine.

Rest as a form of resistance. An exhibition of new works upon single fitted bed sheets by 12 wāhine Māori artists, acknowledging how our tīpuna would have spent this time of Matariki.

Fran & Caroline are contemporary jewellers who are inspired by the world around them. From the mundanity of city streets to the beauty of nature, jewelleryness is everywhere.

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Stevei Houkāmau is the 2021 Toi Pōneke Visual Artist in Residence. Her uku (clay) practice is distinctive for its carved surface designs that draw upon the indigenous tattoo practices of tā moko and tātau. Ira Tangata Ira Atua springs from research into the artist’s whakapapa. By acknowledging and celebrating her whakapapa, Houkāmau unwraps narratives that will be retold through uku, projection and soundscape.

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Pack your bags for an exhibition of vlogs, photography and collage! Anna Brimer and Max Fleury go on holiday at top tourist destinations and Airbnbs, visiting the visited and photographing the photographed.

Three new video works riffing on weird tales, cinema of unease, and camp horror to draw out the moments before collapse into terror or laughter.

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TE MAURI O PŌHUTU is a new series of collaborative installation and time-based artworks by Bianca Hyslop, Rowan Pierce and Tūī Matira Ranapiri Ransfield.

The work responds to the loss of mātauranga Māori due to cultural interruption and assimilation. It is a sensual offering that addresses the fragility of memory, connection to whenua and reclamation of culture from within foreign frameworks.

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Bailee Lobb’s new exhibition In Bathing, Bask considers how spaces can act as a supportive environment for stimming, sensory processing and soothing the nervous system.

Disabled artist Bailee describes living with a highly sensitised central nervous system like ‘living with the volume turned up on all your sensory inputs’ – everything is too loud, too busy, too much. She has created a series of undulating textile spaces for Toi Pōneke Gallery, transforming it into a stimulatory playground for interactive fun, sensory play, and self-regulation.

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Marcus Jackson is an artist, composer and writer based in Pōneke. He creates work that interrogates the links between physical gesture and sound production, often with uncanny results.

Garden Leave, a new exhibition by Toi Pōneke Art Centre’s visual artist-in-residence Matilda Fraser, examines the future of work and labour in an economic landscape impacted by pandemics, recessions, global trade, automation and excess.

Turumeke Harrington’s new exhibition Gentle ribbing is a birth, a coming into being with a lifetime ahead. The exhibition of sculpture and major installation features a huge, brightly coloured quilt.

Artist Katy Cottrell’s new exhibition Furniture Memoirs delves into the untold and forgotten stories of trees used in the production of domestic furniture.

In Loose Parts and Joyful Mayhem artist Rebekah Rasmussen explores the boundaries between a child’s and an adult’s creativity.

Robbie Handcock’s practice draws from an ever-evolving archive of gay erotic material, working towards a queer visual language in painting.

Depictions of queer sexuality are used to discuss ideas of desire, taste and lineage.

Intuitive messy mark making meets a colourful, hard-edged geometric practice in this exhibition of new work from Gary Peters.

An exhibition of new video works by Toi Pōneke’s 2019 Artist in Residence Chevron Hassett. Home is where my heart will rest connects back to the people and places - the essence - of his childhood.

Drawing from collected found moments reflecting ways in which urban environments are constructed, Storm water Solutions combines installations by Teresa Collins and Bena Jackson weaving amusement and sentimentality.

Marilyn Jones’ exhibition Linear Impositions occupies and interrupts the gallery with a series of new works that investigate relationships between space and form.

On his 50th birthday, artist Bryce Galloway got his first tattoo and posted a bandmates wanted flyer. four songs, played twice revisits this mid-life crisis story and the nine bands Galloway started that year. 

EOmma is a series of sculptural works by Emerita Baik exploring an emotive response of people living with a language barrier. 

Rauropi [ I II III ] is an installation by Jason Wright, made up of a series of object integrated sound sculptures.

An exciting exhibition of participatory and interactive art with entertainment by the Toi Pōneke Sound System.

Saturday 30 March from 12noon

Sunday 31 March 12noon - 4pm

The Modern Alpha is a series of hyper-detailed illustrative works by Wellington artist Hannah Salmon, satirising dominant political and ideological systems that promote oppression, competition and financial gain.

Susanna Bauer’s exhibition The Quarry explores a 'fictional archaeology’ that reimagines the past in the present.

This group of dynamic emerging Wellington based artists question how we consider intimacy, relationships, gender and sexuality, and how we become possible and known to each other, and to ourselves.

Referencing the heralding of Matariki, the exhibition brings heaven and earth into closer conversation. Contemporary artworks by leading and emerging Māori artists are paired with virtual taonga from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa, accessed via visitors’ mobile devices.