Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland Museum has opened a fourth exhibition in Te Taunga Community Hub, a gallery designed to foster Auckland communities share their stories. Located in the space formerly occupied by the Museum Store in the Grand Foyer, Te Taunga Community Hub provides a space for long-term engagement with the diverse communities of Tāmaki Makaurau.
The fourth exhibition in Te Taunga Community Hub gallery is A Place To Stand: Contemporary Indian Art in Aotearoa and is presented by Kshetra, a collective of New Zealand Indian artists.
Visitors are able to experience a curated art exhibition by distinguished artists of Indian heritage in this collaborative show featuring stunning artworks and interactive elements - a first group show of its kind in Aotearoa.
Through this exhibition Auckland's diverse communities can connect and celebrate with the art installations, intended by the collective to be a catalyst to address the lack of representation of Indian peoples within the nation’s museums. This exhibition will be of significance to the wider Indian community, while at the same time presenting opportunities for diverse communities to have access to, and to experience, high-quality arts.
Artists Tiffany Singh (installation - fine art), Shruti Yatri (painting), Mandrika Rupa (film), Jacob Rajan - Indian Ink (theatre), Rafik Patel (spatial design), Sarah Dutt (painting and rangoli), and Mandy Rupa-Reid (classical dance) invite visitors to discover and explore artworks that represent each artist’s ideas and professional practice, born from their own experience, heritage, and creative interests.
Previous communities Te Taunga Community Hub has hosted include the Akatokamanava Enua Community of Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland’s Cook Islands Mauke community, the Sudanese community of New Zealand and the Mā’ohi Nui (Tahiti and neighbouring archipelagos) community of Auckland.
Head of Learning and Public Programmes, Kath McGhie says the concept for the new gallery reflects the Museum’s aspiration to be a place of belonging, welcome and celebration for all Aucklanders.
“We have created a space where the welcome of a particular community is vital in authentic story telling about their culture and identity” she says. “It places the community first. Leading the stories of their history in their own voice is crucial to indigenisation; connecting communities with their taonga that is the larger story we are telling at the museum” says McGhie.
Everything you will see and experience in A Place To Stand: Contemporary Indian Art in Aotearoa has been chosen by the artists to tell their own story, from the artworks on display, to the labels, the signage, and even the lighting. On select days, the artists will be leading their own activations for the public.
Entry to the exhibition is free for Aucklanders and for non-residents who pay the Museum’s admission fee.