Benjamin Work

Ha’a Lātūhifo / Shetland.
b.1979, Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland.

Benjamin Work’s practice exemplifies the recent progress of Pasifika artists raised in Aotearoa on American sub/pop culture, while also exploring the complexities of contemporary cultural institutions and Pacific diaspora. Drawing on his Tongan heritage, Work has pushed his art in powerful new directions over the last decade. Inspired by the iconography found on cultural treasures such as ‘akau tau (war clubs), his refined, graphic paintings have sought to find new spaces and ways for audiences to engage with Tonga’s visual culture, both inside institutions and on the streets.

Benjamin is a core member of the international street art collective, The Most Dedicated (TMD), and the Tongan street art collective, No’o Fakataha. His initial creative output centered around sub/pop-cultural influences that emerged from North America in the 1970s -1990s. Since then, Benjamin has continued his journey of ancestral discovery and steadily developed his interests and research into aspects of Tongan history and culture.

Benjamin’s practice extends across a diverse range of projects, which include large scale public murals, commercial print based media, paintings, photography and performance. Combining an ongoing investigation into the symbolic use of colour, kula (red) and `uli (black), with a strong interest in Tongan history, Ngatu (bark cloth) making, Kupesi (designs and motifs), and the heliaki (semiotics) of the Povāi (ancient Tongan war clubs), his work forms as a contemporary point which furthers the parallels that can be drawn between established Tongan traditions and practices, and the spiritual and social significance these have for Tongans within the Pacific diaspora.

The bold visual language of his work references historical narratives, iconography, symbolism, and design elements that are particular to Tongan culture, which are also firmly positioned amidst notions connected with Ta and Va (time and space) Tatau (symmetry), Potupotutatau (harmony) and Faka `ofa `ofa (beauty). Benjamin has exhibited in Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, North America, Rarotonga and Tonga where he travels frequently.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2022: To’a Motu, Bergman Gallery, Auckland.
2021: Hake Project – Canterbury Museum, Christchurch.
2018: Write it on the land, seal it on the heart – Te Tuhi Gallery, Auckland.
2017: Whenua Fonua ‘Enua – Malcolm Smith Gallery, Auckland.
2016: For King and Country, Ma’ae Tu’i moe e Fonua, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga.
2016: The Glorious Children of Te Tumu, Salisbury International Arts Festival, England.
2016: The Glorious Children of Te Tumu, Corban Estate.
2015: For King and Country, Ma’ae Tu’i moe e Fonua, Mangere Arts Centre – Nga Tohu o Uenuku, Auckland.
2015: Toutoutā’, Olivia Laita Gallery, Onehunga, Auckland.
2014: I see red, I see red, I see red, FRESH Gallery, Otara, Auckland.

GROUP SHOWS/PRESENTATIONS:

2022: Te Atuitanga – Between our Cloak of Stars, Bergman Gallery, Auckland.
2021: The Most Dedicated: An Aotearoa Graffiti Story, The Dowse Art Museum, Wellington, NZ; Life After Death – Franklin Gallery, Auckland.
2020: Tatou 2, The Story of Us, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga.
2019: Auckland Art Fair Bergman Gallery, Auckland, NZ; Art in the dark II – Me’a’ofa Gallery, Nuku’alofa, Tonga.
2018: MPA#1, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga.
2017: Return to Havaiki | UFO Islands, with Andy Leleisiúao, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga; Post Graffiti Pacific – TSB Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland.
2016: New York’s Night Out, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.
2016: Katharsis, Calder & Lawson Gallery, August 1 – September 30.
2014: Post Graffiti Pacific, Ambush Gallery, Sydney, Australia; If these walls could talk, Wallace Trust, Pah Homestead, Auckland; Show room opening, Olivia Laita Gallery, Auckland; Louder, Print Group show, Studio 40, Auckland;
Tauhi Vā No’o Fakataha, FRESH Gallery Otara, Auckland; Hold your breath, Whitespace, Auckland.
2013: Atenisi, No’o Fakataha Collective, Kingdom of Tonga.
2012: Matala Festival, Mangere Arts Centre – Nga Tohu o Uenuku, Auckland.
2011: Presence, Artstation, Auckland.
2010: The Miami Dream, Shed5, Auckland.
2009: Hecho en Mexico, Tijuana, Mexico.

STREET WORK:

2014: Auckland art week, commissioned mural, Fort Street, Auckland CBD. Graffiato, outdoor mural festival, Taupo CBD. I see red mural, public mural, Otara Town Centre, Auckland. All fresco, street art event, Karangahapē Road, Auckland.
2013: From the ground up, public mural event, Christchurch CBD. TMD x Corbans, outdoor mural, Corbans Estate Art Centre, Auckland. Graffiato, outdoor mural festival, Taupo CBD. Samoa victim support group, outdoor mural, Apia, Samoa.
2010: Krosswerds festival, outdoor mural, Sydney, Australia; Primary flight, outdoor mural, Art Basel, Miami, USA.

COLLECTIONS:

TSB Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland, NZ.
Auckland Museum, NZ.
Welt Museum, Vienna, Austria.
Wrightmann House, Christchurch, NZ.

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE:

CMBB Para Site International Art Residency (PS IAR) 2019, Hong Kong.

URBAN INTERVENTIONS

2021 The Most Dedicated, Street Art Festival, Lower Hutt
2020 Papaioea Mural Festival, Palmerston North
2017 Graffiato Street Art Festival, Taupō
2016 Spanish Harlem mural, MET Outreach programme, NYC, USA; Aotea Squared, Auckland Arts Festival
2015 Alfresco, Cross Street Mural, Auckland
2014 Fort Lane Mural, Auckland Art Week
2012 Bradley Lane Festival, Auckland
2011 Life line Mural , Auckland

PUBLICATIONS

Whenua Fonua ‘Enua 2017 Published by RIM Books, ISBN 978-0-473-41566-2

SELECTED COMMISIONS

2021 Motutapu II, Floor to wall mural – Canterbury Museum; Etu Pasifika Health Centre – Christchurch; The new Media Design School – Wynyard Quarter, Auckland City
2016 Tapa collaboration with Fauniteni o e Vai Mo’ui – Manukau Institute of Technology, Auckland
2015 Tu’i Tonga, Tu’i Ha’atakalaua, Tu’i Kanokupolu – 2015 – Auckland Museum

AWARDS

2021 Finalist – Molly Morpeth Canaday Award

ART ASSISTANT

2020 CULTURAL ID – Marae, Maunga, Motu, Toi tū Toi Ora – Emily Karaka

RESEARCH TRIPS

2020 Motutapu, Rarotonga
2019 Motutapu, Tonga
2018 Motutapu, Tāmaki Makaurau
2016 Tongan Oceanic collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
2015 Tongan Arts publication research, British Museum; Oxford Musuem; Vienna Welt Musuem; Museo de America – Madrid; Australian Musuem – Sydney
2013 Tongan Arts collective No’o Fakataha, Tongatapu

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

2016 PAA International Symposium, Auckland
2015 Europe Pacific Arts Association Conference, Madrid
2013 Tongan Research Association Conference, Auckland