Showing internationally and staying grounded

How do you hold onto home when you're oceans away? This month, Aotearoa practitioners are finding out as they exhibit in major international art systems (like the 18th Lyon Biennale in France, opening 19 September, featuring ten Aotearoa artists including Ashleigh Taupaki, Fiona Clark, and Sriwhana Spong) as well as in intimate, grassroots spaces. On both scales, artists and curators are taking relational, Indigenous, and community-centred methodologies with them.

Curious about what it means to show internationally while staying grounded, I reached out to Aotearoa artist and writer Hana Pera Aoake (Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Hinerangi, Waikato/Tainui) to talk about their exhibition Insides Turning Blue, which has just opened at TCB Art Inc. in Naarm Melbourne. 

Co-organised with Naarm-based poet, editor, and teacher Autumn Royal, the show is built around Treatise on the Cyanometer, a 40-stanza text the duo originally wrote for Verge Journal exploring the mid-1700s instrument designed to measure shades of blue in nature. Reflecting on why blue became their vessel, Aoake notes: “I feel that as a colour, mood, expression, or way of reading the health of a waterway; blue resonates with many of the artists because of the time of genocidal, ecological and social collapses we are witnessing.”

The exhibition builds on close connections dating back to when Aoake first met Royal in Naarm in 2015 through the collective Fresh and Fruity. “Through Autumn and others I've met lots of Australian artists and writers and I guess I just keep coming back, because these friendships and exchanges are important to me,” Aoake says. Through this network, Royal chose to show the work of her late tuakana John Nixon alongside his whānau to honour his lasting impact, as well as long-time collaborators Manisha Anjali and Jemi Gale. Meanwhile, Aoake features artists deeply meaningful to them: Taarn Scott, Emilio Bianchic (whom Aoake met during a Delfina Foundation residency in 2024), and Pepi Joy Gilgen (Waikato, Ngāti Porou, Ngāi Tahu).

To sustain these trans-Tasman dialogues, institutional support is just as necessary as personal friendship, with Aoake pointing to past initiatives like The Regional Assembly (2021–22) and digital art fellowships between CNZ and Creative Australia: “Both were really important for me because of the relationships I formed out of the programmes... There needs to be more initiatives like this, because in this funding hellscape in both places, maybe we just need one another.” Expanding on what it means to work in Te Whenua Moemoea, Aoake adds: “I am always humbled to learn more about its painful and downright awful histories, but also remind myself that I'm a guest when I go there... Our histories are actually very different, but Māori experience many of the same indignities in Aotearoa so there are things we can learn from each other, including outlets for creativity and joy.”

For Aoake, presenting these works in an independent space like TCB taps straight into a history of experimental DIY culture, reminding them of RM Gallery in Tāmaki and their formative years around Ōtepoti’s experimental music and rock-and-roll scenes. “I just want to go to galleries that are a bit more open to experimenting and creating sustained conversations around how we can learn, share and make art that encourages people to imagine different ways our whole society could function,” they say. “Sometimes I just want to see stakes, risk or fun? What can you do on a shoestring budget?”

When asked about building a practice outside the motu, Aoake advises: “If you want to make something happen anywhere, you can, so long as you can find the money, but it's also easier when you have your friends in other places alongside you to help make it happen. Friendships are precious and if they mean a lot to you, you tend to them gently over many years and selves.”

Australia & Pacific

Kindred People 2026 | Monash University and various venues, Naarm Melbourne, Australia | 1 – 5 September
An Indigenous-led festival centring First Nations creativity, ceremony and dialogue. Highlights include the Australian premiere of He Huia Kaimanawa at the Ian Potter Centre for Performing Arts, and the award-winning Pacific poetry production UPU, fresh from its sold-out season at the Sydney Opera House. 

Pasifika Made at the Brisbane Festival | Meanjin Brisbane, Australia | 19 September
A celebration of Pacific arts through ancestral and contemporary lenses, featuring live performances from soul artist Aaradhna, Pacific reggae, R&B and soul artist and producer JSQZE, and dance workshops by Le Moana.

Insides Turning Blue | TCB Art Inc., Naarm Melbourne, Australia | Until 30 September
Featuring Manisha Anjali, Emilio Bianchic, Jemi Gale, Pepi Joy Gilgen (Waikato, Ngāti Porou, Kāi Tahu), John Nixon, and Taarn Scott. Organised by Hana Pera Aoake (Ngāti Hinerangi, Ngāti Mahuta, Waikato/Tainui) and Autumn Royal, the exhibition refracts crisis, grief, and desire through the prism of blue.

Te Ara Minhinnick: Canberra Biennial 2026 | Canberra, Australia | 11 September – 31 October
The 6th edition of the Biennial features contemporary mixed-media work across public landscapes, featuring Aotearoa artist Te Ara Minhinnick. 

Sally Ann McIntyre: Post-extinction huia soundings | Bundoora Homestead Art Centre, Naarm Melbourne, Australia | Until 24 October 
Exploring the song of the extinct huia, McIntyre uses research and phonograph recordings to investigate ecological loss and colonial histories across Aotearoa and Australia.

Asia

Dane Mitchell: Shunfeng Express | Deltainst GODOWN Space, Hangzhou, China | Until 20 September
Co-presented with Melbourne artist-run space HAIR, this group exhibition features Aotearoa artist Dane Mitchell alongside international peers Karin Sander, Lou Hubbard, Ry Haskings, Stuart Ringholt and Yan Dafu.

The Americas

Fiona Connor: Broken Sleeps | Chateau Shatto, Los Angeles, USA | Opens 9 September
A solo presentation by Los Angeles-based Fiona Connor; her fifth at the gallery.

Kate Newby: How to Grow the Cowpea: Survival Strategies from the U.S. South! | Visual Arts Center, Texas, USA | Opens 4 September
A thematic group exhibition that looks at the relationship between scientific research and experimentation and artistic practice, navigating the climate crisis and creating new paths forward.

Europe & UK

Eyes in the Soil | Phillida Reid, London, UK | Until 1 October 
A group exhibition exploring the natural world as an animate force, featuring Nova Paul (Te Uriroroi, Te Parawhau, Ngāpuhi) with her plant-processed 16mm film Puawānanga, and the late Vivian Lynn, alongside international artists Neal Jones, Shikh Sabbir Alam and Sabian Baumann.

Oli Mathiesen with Lucy Lynch and Sharvon Mortimer | The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, UAE | 10 – 12 September
Presenting The Butterfly Who Flew Into The Rave in a showcase of contemporary performance from Aotearoa to an international audience.

Freya Copeland | La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain | 18 – 20 September
Launching a new photobook publication at the international fiebre photo-book festival. 

18th Lyon Biennale: To pass from one dream to another | Multiple venues, Lyon, France | Opening 19 September
Curated by Catherine Nichols, this edition pays special attention to Oceania and features ten Aotearoa artists: Ashleigh Taupaki, Fiona Clark, John Miller, Luke Willis Thompson, Matthew Harris, Maureen Lander, Michael Stevenson, Ngahina Hohaia, Rangi Kipa and Sriwhana Spong.

Karl Fritsch Masterclass | DIVA Museum, Antwerp, Belgium | 21 – 25 September
On the occasion of the exhibition Rings That Rock, jewellery artist Karl Fritsch leads an intensive five-day masterclass on the lost-wax casting process.

Areez Katki: Gasworks Residency | London, UK | 30 September – 15 December
A three-month studio residency that supports Katki in developing a new performance and video work exploring ritual and queer embodiment from the artist's position as a Zoroastrian priest.

Farnham World Craft Town Residency | Farnham, England, UK | Apply by 2 October 
A fully funded 4–6 week residency taking place in Spring 2027, open to international makers with travel, accommodation and studio costs covered. 

Tokyo Biennale 2027: “Social Dive” Open Call | Tokyo, Japan | Apply by 30 September
An international open call for artists and curators to propose site-specific projects engaging directly with Tokyo’s local communities and neighbourhoods.

Vermont Studio Center Open Call | Vermont, USA | Apply by 30 September
A residency providing artists and writers from around the world with the time and space to deepen their creative practice while building a solid network of mentors and collaborators.