It has been a monumental month for Aotearoa artists internationally. Across film festivals and major biennales, our artists are tracing histories of colonialism, asserting Indigenous self-determination and holding power to account, raising questions of transparency that land right on our own doorstep.
In New York, a wave of Aotearoa and Pacific cinema arrived at the Pacific Island Film Festival, running from 17 to 20 September. Congratulations to Chelsea Winstanley, whose documentary Toitū: Visual Sovereignty won Best Feature at the event. Filmed over several years, the film follows the making of Nigel Borell’s landmark exhibition Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art and explores Māori self-determination and the challenges that arise when working within colonial institutions. It’s a must-see, and luckily for overseas viewers, the film is completing an international tour supported by New Zealand's Cultural Diplomacy International Programme, with screenings across the UK, Europe, and the US. Keep an eye out for where it lands next.
The festival line-up also featured Taratoa Stappard’s Māori gothic feature Mārama, Aidee Walker’s work in the Tidal Voices strand, and the Mana Wāhine programme which celebrated femme pride.
Meanwhile, in Boorloo (Perth, Australia), PICA recently announced Yona Lee as the recipient of the 2027 Judy Wheeler Commission, which will see Lee produce an expansive, functional sculptural intervention reimagining institutional space next year. In London, Owen Connors featured in Hospital Rooms: Host|Guest at Victoria Miro Gallery, celebrating a decade of the charity's work in clinical care spaces.
Last month also saw a large contingent of Aotearoa artists present at the 18th Lyon Biennale in France (on until 13 December), which puts a special curatorial spotlight on Oceania. Among the presentations, Ashleigh Taupaki fills the French industrial landscape with a 60-metre sculpture of a fallen kahikatea tree and an audio karanga, while Sriwhana Spong presents Voile-voilà, a silk curtain dyed with Fanta, structured like a Balinese split gate, and which tracks sixteen years of her KiwiSaver pension fund. During the opening weeks of the Biennale, Rangi Kipa completed a live whale-bone carving residency, inviting guests to handle the precious material. John Miller exhibits works from his iconic photographic archive documenting six decades of land rights struggles, including the 1975 Māori Land March.
At macLYON, Luke Willis Thompson presented the third and final chapter in his video trilogy, Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, which imagines an Oceania with power returned to its original inhabitants. This iteration takes us to present-day New Caledonia, where members of the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front address viewers directly, demanding independence from France. Thanks to Contemporary HUM founder and trustee Pauline Autet, who shared images from the preview days.
These questions of sovereignty, land, and institutional power have recently been brought closer to home, where an open letter from a collective of artists and arts workers from Aotearoa was published late last month, critically examining Creative New Zealand’s conduct and transparency at the 61st Venice Biennale. Communicating under the banner nzveniceunredacted, the group highlights systemic shortcomings that have been explored by Gabi Lardies on The Big Idea here. With documents obtained through the Official Information Act publicly available, the collective is now encouraging the arts community to examine the records, draw their own conclusions, and add their signatures in support.
Back in Lyon, Biennale curator Catherine Nichols reminded visitors and participants (through Robert Filliou’s concept of “poetic economy”) that true structural transformation begins by redefining value as relational rather than financial. She called on art and artists to interrogate systems of power and extraction wherever they manifest.
On this month
Australia & Pacific
Ana Iti: held by embracing droplets | Lismore Regional Gallery, Australia | Until 31 January 2027
Iti joins this group exhibition curated by Jocelyn Flynn, exploring mist and fog as symbols of connection to water. Inspired by the hydrological cycles of Bundjalung Country, the works reveal obscured histories, veiled memories, and embodied understandings of the environment.
Shane Cotton & Fiona Pardington | 1301SW, Naarm Melbourne, Australia | Until 31 October
The final presentation in a series of four paired exhibitions, 1301SW places these two prominent Aotearoa artists side by side, highlighting a dynamic dialogue between their practices.
Nina Nawalowalo: Oceania Pacific Arts Residency | Oceania Centre, Suva, Fiji | Throughout October
Internationally acclaimed theatre director and founder of The Conch, Nina Nawalowalo undertakes this significant residency, continuing her lifelong commitment to using performance and storytelling as vehicles for social change across Moana-nui-a-Kiwa.
Ming Ranginui: La Trobe Art Institute and Artspace Aotearoa Residency | Djaara Bendigo, Regional Victoria, Australia | October
Whanganui-based Ranginui completes a three-week residency exploring Indigenous sovereignty, capitalism, and the tensions of self-determination on Dja Dja Wurrung Country.
Bagurrk Murrup – Kotahitanga | Blak Dot Gallery, Naarm Melbourne, Australia | Opens 24 October
A groundbreaking Indigenous contemporary jewellery exhibition that sees Māori and First Nations wāhine jewellers stand together on an international stage for the first time. Presented as part of the Radiant Pavilion 2026, the exhibition features Areta Wilkinson, Turumeke Harrington, Neke Moa, Gina Matchitt, Tiahuia Arapeta, and Keri-Mei Zagrobelina.
The Americas
Alexis Hunter: Chimera | TOTAH, New York, USA | Until 31 October
A major exhibition celebrating the late, pioneering feminist artist Alexis Hunter, who left Aotearoa in the early 1970s and built an international career challenging gender, power, and visual representation.
Emma McIntyre: This body holds / swamp stuff | David Zwirner, New York, USA | Until 24 October
Los Angeles-based McIntyre presents new abstract paintings and works on paper that “probe the alchemical possibilities of the painted medium,” incorporating unconventional materials like oxidised iron and copper to create atmospheric works.
Europe & UK
Sione Faletau: Global Dystopia | Flutgraben, Berlin, Germany | Until 17 October
Faletau explores the Tongan concept of ongo (sound, feeling, and resonance), presenting audio-visual installations, projection mapping, and digital kupesi (Tongan patterns) that transform ancestral narratives and environmental sounds into immersive experiences.
Michael Stevenson: Ways of Seeing | Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź, Poland | Opens 17 October
A major new permanent exhibition at Muzeum Sztuki featuring Stevenson’s work. Taking John Berger and Władysław Strzemiński as reference points, the exhibition posits looking is never neutral – it is always culturally, historically, and emotionally conditioned.
Gary Silipa, Linda Va’aelua, Serene Hodgman & Jimmy Ma’i’ai: MOANA_5 | Scott Lawrie, Edinburgh, Scotland | Until 24 October
MOANA_5 explores identity, migration, and the complex historical ties between Aotearoa New Zealand and Scotland. Featuring lightboxes, textiles, and contemporary weaving and tapa, the exhibition celebrates the shared cultural crossovers between the two countries.
Alexis Hunter & Mercedes Lucy: Just Us in the Middle of the Night | Frost Editions, Margate, UK | Until 2 November
Inspired by Hunter’s New York exhibition at TOTAH, British artist Mercedes Lucy places selected pieces in dialogue with new ceramic vessels and tiled panels from her own practice exploring the body and the psychological realities of womanhood.
Kate Newby: The leaves were brighter than the grass | Fondazione Bonollo, Thiene VI, Italy | Until 7 November
Curated by Lisa Modiano, Newby presents site-specific works across the former 18th-century church and adjacent contemporary spaces of the Sandra and Giancarlo Bonollo Foundation.
This October, Kate Newby also completes a month-long residency with ARCH Athens in Greece.
David Rickard: Water Flow. Acqua, arte, scienza, umanità | Palazzo delle Albere, Trento, Italy | Until 6 June 2027
London-based Rickard features in this major exhibition with MUSE exploring natural phenomena, technological processes, and environmental transformations. Rickard’s contribution, The River's Voice investigates the ecological and historical changes of regional waterways.
Opportunities beyond Aotearoa
SCHMUCK München & TALENTE München | Munich, Germany | Apply by 19 or 31 October
Jewellers and makers are invited to apply for two international craft and design competitions held annually during the International Handwerksmesse. Applications for the emerging maker category TALENTE münchen – Masters of the Future close on 19 October, while submissions for the SCHMUCK münchen exhibition close on 31 October.
EMKP Documentation Grants | British Museum, UK (Global eligibility) | Apply by 1 December
Small and large grants (ranging up to £100,000) for international applicants working with a host institution to document endangered material knowledge systems, practices, and environments under threat of disappearing.
