Source: A Contemporary feminine aesthetic

The ‘Source’ exhibition and art project aims at celebrating gender and overcoming some of the challenges experienced by women artists today. Given the provocation ‘to revisit the notion of a feminine aesthetic,( a highly contested feminist art discourse of the eighties),, nine Hawke’s Bay women gathered at each other’s studios to discuss emerging themes and provide constructive criticism as the work evolved. In some cases it has fostered cross-pollination of media practice and collaboration between parties. The women have a diverse skill base and highly individual practice. Their differing backgrounds, ages, and life experience are connected by their experiences as women, and this has manifested itself in the exhibition. Co curator and Director of the Gallery writes in the catalogue for the exhibition “ These women are empowered, productive contemporary New Zealand artists, worthy of following, watching and collecting. They lay bare their most personal politics, struggles, histories and love of life, so that you might consider them as more than the human condition at its source”.