NZ artists abroad are activating ancestral practices

Kia ora koutou, and welcome to the May edition of Global Compass.

As I’ve been collating this month’s activity of Aotearoa artists abroad, I’ve noticed a recurring thread. From the landmark exhibition Rising Voices at the V&A in London to the 8th Contemporary Native Art Biennial in Montreal, I'm seeing our artists push back against the pressure to let their histories – their ways of being and their ways of making – be frozen in time or locked away in a glass box. At the heart of this month’s digest is this friction between the museum archive, and Indigenous practices that see objects as alive; as beings with their own stories to tell.

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, anticipation is building for Fiona Pardington’s Taharaki Skyside. As our official representative at this year’s Venice Biennale, Pardington (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Ngāti Kahungunu) is pulling taxidermied manu (birds) out of museum drawers, using her large-scale photography to bring them back into the light. I’ll be on the ground soon and will share exclusive images from the pavilion at La Pietà in next month’s Global Compass.

Running in parallel to this official presence is Paerangi: Venice, a collaboration between Te Tuhi and CREA, where artists John Turi-Tiakitai, Kereama Taepa, Neke Moa, and Suzanne Tamaki use a 2.5m pou whenua (land marker), pūrākau (storytelling), and performance to make sure Māori perspectives aren't just on display, but are physically and vocally active during the opening week. Meanwhile, in London, Sofia Tekela-Smith’s adornment work at the V&A is another reminder that knowledge from Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa isn’t ancient history to be studied, but an active, everyday power.

I’ve been thinking about this alongside the pushing of AI auto-replies and predictive systems into our daily lives – another kind of singular logic that wants to flatten everything into a nice and tidy summary.

Thankfully, our artists in Mana Wahine, We are surrounded by oceans in Naarm, and To Move Across the Land in Gadigal Lands show a different way forward, highlighting how creative practices like weaving are sophisticated technologies in themselves; living, intergenerational systems of knowledge with a depth that a one-dimensional algorithm can only dream of. 

Read on for more details about these exhibitions and other activity from Aotearoa artists abroad, as well as four offshore opportunities worth your time.

Australia & Pacific
 

Mana Wahine | Queen Victoria Women's Centre, Naarm Melbourne | Until 22 May
Curated by Jade Hadfield (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Whātua), this exhibition explores the sacred authority of Indigenous women and gender-diverse identities. Featuring FAFSWAG, Ella Rowe, Folole Tupuola, Grace Vanilau, Irihipeti Waretini, and Veisinia Tonga, the works navigate roles of kinship and reclamation through a Moana-centric lens.

We are surrounded by oceans | Artbank, Gadigal Lands Sydney | Until 22 May 
Curated by Salote Tawale, this show interrogates the archive as a vessel for memory and the “materiality of the diaspora.” Featuring artists Benjamin Akuila, Mark Maurangi Carrol, and Talia Smith, the exhibition positions the ocean as a connective thread linking personal histories and shared environmental futures.

The Royal Family Dance Crew: Defend the Throne | Hamer Hall, Naarm Melbourne | 7 June 
As a headline act for RISING 2026, the Tāmaki Makaurau-based global phenomena bring their signature "Polyswagg" style to the festival’s inaugural Australian Dance Biennale. Led by Parris Goebel, the crew performs a showcase of career-defining choreography and new moves, centering the instinctive, family-led energy of Aotearoa’s Polynesian youth.

New South Vol. 2: Recent Sculpture & Installation Art | Hazelhurst Arts Centre, Dharawal Country Gymea | Until 21 June
This intergenerational snapshot of contemporary sculpture from across Southern Australasia explores the “inter-relations” between objects, materials, and the viewer. Co-curated by Victoria Wynne-Jones, and featuring Dan Arps and Alicia Frankovich, the exhibition uses immersive installation and experimental 1960s legacies to invite visitors into a shared material dialogue.

The Americas

Natasha Cantwell: The Teacher's Sauna | Woodland Pattern, Milwaukee, USA | 15 May
Screening as part of the tenth season of aCinema, Cantwell’s 16mm experimental short looks at the ritualistic history of the Finnish sauna. Once a site for both childbirth and the washing of the dead, the film explores the sauna as a vessel for accumulated time and human absence.

To Move Across the Land: Colour Is Not Neutral | Art Mûr, Montreal | Until 20 June
Featuring Jamie Berry, Telly Tuita, Lissy and Rudi Robinson-Cole, Isaac Te Awa, Tayla Hartemink, Stevei Houkāmau, and Renati Waaka. Part of the 8th Contemporary Native Art Biennial (BACA), this showcase celebrates colour as a sovereign language and a tool of resistance against colonial aesthetic discipline.

To Move Across the Land: Making Otherwise | Quai 5160 – Maison de la culture de Verdun, Montreal | Until 12 July
Featuring Israel Randell, Feeona Clifton, Suzanne Tamaki, and Aroha Miller. Also part of BACA, this exhibition frames Indigenous processes, including weaving, adornment, and material spatiality, as living systems of knowledge and intergenerational transmission that refuse the separation of art and life.

Kate Newby: The Sound of Trees | Portland International Airport, Oregon | Permanent Unveiled this month, Newby’s 76-foot ceramic and glass mural uses foraged glass and native foliage impressions to translate the Oregon landscape into a permanent sensory experience for travelers in the new PDX Terminal.

Europe & UK
 

Fiona Pardington: Taharaki Skyside | La Pietà, Venice | Until 22 November
Representing Aotearoa at the 61st Venice Biennale, Pardington (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Ngāti Kahungunu) presents Taharaki Skyside. Located at the Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà and curated by Felicity Milburn and Chloe Cull, the exhibition elevates endemic manu (birds) from Aotearoa’s museums into a celestial dialogue.

Paerangi: Venice | CREA and other locations, Venice | 5–10 May
A series of site-responsive activations by Māori artists John Turi-Tiakitai, Kereama Taepa, Neke Moa, and Suzanne Tamaki. Presented by Te Tuhi and CREA Cantieri del Contemporaneo, this project uses the Venice Biennale’s opening week as a horizon for collective cultural exchange.

Rising Voices: Contemporary Art from Asia, Australia and the Pacific | V&A, London | Opens 16 May
A landmark collaboration with Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, this survey includes Michael Parekōwhai’s life-sized Kapa Haka (Whero) (2003) guarding the entrance, while Sofia Tekela-Smith features in the Enduring Knowledge section, highlighting Pacific material traditions and adornment.

Richard Frater: Borrowed Languages | CIAP Vassivière, France | Until 14 June
2027 Walters Prize nominee Frater investigates the human mimicry of birdsong. His work Wonder Block (2026) explores ecological interference alongside archival notations by Olivier Messiaen.

Ilke Gers: Out of Office (Still Here) | Nest ruimte voor kunst, The Hague | Until 16 August
Gers makes visible the physical traces of human movement and labour in this group show, interrogating the concept of leisure and the social inequalities that shape our access to rest.

Kate Newby: Carrying | Museum Brandhorst, Munich | Until 8 November
Newby occupies historically charged sites, including the Türkentor, with architectural interventions exploring the entanglement of military and cultural power. Part of a major project linking local topographies with global histories.

Cavendish Art Science Fellowship | Cambridge, UK | Apply by 16 May
A one-year fellowship (Oct 2026–Oct 2027) hosted by the Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics. This residency supports adventurous artists across all media to explore alternative ways of knowing alongside physicists. Includes a £10,000 stipend, free accommodation and meals at Girton College, a £10,000 production budget, and up to £3,000 for travel.

Kōwhai Residency | Yōga, Tokyo | Apply by 18 May
A five-week residency (28 July–1 Sept 2026) in Tokyo for an emerging to mid-career NZ photographer. Presented by the Auckland Festival of Photography and T3 Photo Festival, the program offers a self-guided research period including return flights, accommodation in Yōga, and a NZ$60 per week stipend. Documentary or fine art proposals are invited, with an exhibition opportunity at the 2027 festival in Auckland.

Gasworks Residency | London, UK | Apply by 1 June
An eleven-week, fully-funded residency (30 Sept–15 Dec 2026) for an early-career visual artist from Aotearoa. This process-based residency at Gasworks focuses on research and networking. It provides a private studio, shared accommodation, a £175 per week stipend, an £800 materials budget, return flights, a London travel card, and curatorial support.

Artists Across Borders | International | Rolling Applications
A “top-up” funding initiative for contemporary Pasifika artists based in Aotearoa. Supporting those with international invitations between April and December 2026, the fund provides up to NZ$4,000 to bridge financial gaps for exhibitions, residencies, or speaking engagements. Applications are first-come, first-served until the NZ$20,000 pool is exhausted.

If you know about upcoming international exhibitions or events featuring Aotearoa artists (visual or otherwise), or not-to-be-missed opportunities, send me a message via Instagram.