Ashleigh Taupaki (b. 1997, Waitakere, New Zealand. Lives and works in Tāmaki-makau-rau, Auckland, New Zealand) explores Māori connections to place through concepts of indigenous narrative and non-human agency. Working with hard materials, she creates sculptures that manifest ideas of kaitiakitanga (stewardship) and collaboration with natural resources. She depicts places that are significant to her own ancestral origins in Hauraki, New Zealand, and strives to revitalise the stories and knowledge of her people and lands.
Her recent exhibitions include Where You From, Te Uru (2020), the New Artists Show, Artspace Aotearoa (2020), Matā, RM Gallery (2020) and has written for Mayfair Art Fair, and a number of independent zines. She has recently been awarded a Ngā Manu Pīrere Award from Creative New Zealand for her achievements as an emerging Māori artist. She has recently completed an MFA at Elam School of Fine Arts, The University of Auckland.
Becky Richards (b. 1988, Ōtautahi, Christchurch and lives and works in Tāmaki-makau-rau, Auckland) is an Aotearoa New Zealand maker, writer and educator. Her creative practice bridges sculpture, installation, ceramics, words and workshops. Richards’ research is led by material processes and follows a continuous flow between the world of the mind and the realm of matter – fulfilling both her inherent need to make things, and the necessity of keeping herself happy and well.
Her exhibitions include Sand-pit, RM gallery, Auckland (2020); CATCH, Tinning St Gallery, Melbourne (2019); Slow Time, Tacit gallery, Hamilton (2018); You are a force of nature, Elam school of fine arts, Auckland (2018) and To watch, with your mind’s eye, the world floating quiet, Blue Oyster Project Space, Dunedin (2017). Richards holds a BFA (hons) from Ilam school of Fine Arts, and an MFA (first class hons) from Elam School of fine Arts, University of Auckland. She is the founder and director of Mud Studios Limited, a shared ceramics studio focused on supporting contemporary process-led-research in clay.
Richards is the current editor of Ceramics NZ magazine, and a freelance writer.
Elisabeth Pointon (b. 1992, New Zealand. Lives and works in Wellington, New Zealand) creates text-based works that investigate the ‘communal isolation’ of shared spaces. Using different gestures, ranging from performance to installation, Pointon queries the privilege and positions that languages creates, drawing careful conclusions about power, representation and exclusion. Her recent exhibitions include WHERE TO FROM HERE, Jhana Millers (2020), What Goes Up, City Gallery, Wellington (2019), Better living everyone., Blue Oyster Art Project Space, Ōtepoti (2019); WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT., Play_Station, Te Whanganui-a-Tara (2019); Special offer., Te Tuhi, Tāmaki Makaurau (2018); A guide to effective implementation of self-service., Masons Screen, Te Whanganui-a-Tara (2018) and Don’t miss out., The Dowse Arts Museum, Awakairangi (2018). She graduated with an MFA from Massey University (Te Whanganui-a-Tara) in 2017.
Lucy Meyle (b. 1989, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. Lives and works in Makaurau, Auckland) uses sculpture, publication, installation, and video as sites for re-imaging and re-imagining our relations to what is human and more-than-human in our time of climate emergency. Humour and playfulness form key aspects of her works, acting to re-orientate perspectives or subjective interpretations through propositions that seem absurd, yet which materially demonstrate their own potential. Her recent exhibitions include Soft Spot, Enjoy Gallery (2020), March Mostra, British School at Rome (2019), Looking Forwards and Backwards (with Ziggy Lever), Blue Oyster Art Project Space (2017). In 2018 she completed a practice-led PhD titled “Does a Flower Rehearse for Spring” at Auckland University of Technology.
Tanya Martusheff (b. 1983, Alberta, Canada. Lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand) explores human encounters with non-human things. Her installations involve the overlapping functions of material vitality that either benefit or hinder human-built environments. Her recent exhibitions include; Slough, RM (2020), Systems in Place/Systems of Placing, DEMO (2019), The Efficiency of Upright Walking, Pearce Gallery (2018), Tumble Dry, Canape Canopy (2016), Group Shower, FUZZYVIBES (2015). Martusheff holds an MFA from Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design, graduating in 2020.
Casey Larkin Mazer Carsel (b. 1995, New Zealand; lives and works between Auckland and Chicago) is an Ashkenazi Jewish editor, writer, and artist. Her practice focuses on how communal narratives are constructed and passed down through generations and across the world, and how these stories shape identities and make connections. Carsel received her BFA from Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland (2016), and her MFA in Creative Writing from School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2019). Recent solo exhibitions include Shum Klum, RM Gallery, Auckland (2019); When a poor man eats a chicken, one of them is sick (but we sing, we still sing), Blue Oyster Gallery, Dunedin (2019); and Rather owe you than not pay you, MEANWHILE onsite, Wellington (2017). In 2019 she co-founded Plates: An Experimental Journal with Unyimeabasi Udoh.
Micheal Do is a curator, programmer and writer working across Australia, New Zealand and Asia. His curatorial focus lies in developing thematic and immersive exhibitions that extrapolate research and artistic practices into contemporary contexts. He is curator of contemporary art at the Sydney Opera House, Australia and a curator of Projects at Aotearoa Art Fair, New Zealand.
His exhibition Soft Core, exploring soft and inflatable sculptures developed for Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney, recently concluded its tour of twelve regional and rural galleries throughout New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland from 2016 – 2019. Micheal has curated Not Niwe, Not Nieuw, Not Neu (2017) and The Invisible Hand (2019) for 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art and among other exhibitions curated 5X5: The Artist and The Patron (2018), a survey of 5 artist/collector relationships for Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest. He was the 2018 recipient of The Freedman Foundation’s Travelling Scholarship for Curators and the recipient Museums and Galleries NSW Artist and Curator Residency Grant in 2016. His writing appears in publications including 4A Papers; Art Collector Australia; Art Monthly, Australasia; Art Review Asia, Artist Profile Magazine, S+S Magazine, VAULT Magazine, and 10 Magazine, along with artists’ catalogues.