Opening 2-4pm, Saturday 2 August, all welcome.
In his first solo exhibition, Under the Shade of the Mānuka, Ōtepoti-born artist Harrison Freeth explorates themes of regeneration, legacy, life and death. Using a mixture of drawing and sculpture, Under the Shade of the Mānuka, explores what it means to start a journey expressed through the life cycle of the Mānuka tree, an integral species in the regeneration of native bush.
Mānuka is often the first shrub to grow on cleared land, creating the climate that fosters forest regeneration. In providing the right soil, shelter and shade conditions, more sensitive and longer-living forest species such as Rimu and Kauri are able to grow. As these larger tree canopies grow, they create a deadly shade for the Mānuka, which succumbs to the life it helped create.
This story of ecological succession becomes a way for the artist to reflect on life, death and intergenerational transfer. Drawing on process, materials, and a visual language that reflects this succession, from deforestation to regeneration, Freeth blurs the boundaries between the two species, human and tree, drawing parallels between their life cycles and the stories they hold. Within the intersections of the Mānuka tree and humanity are intertwined stories of migration, evolution, refinement and culture.
Through these works, Freeth seeks to frame a new way of understanding land, not as backdrop, but as a living participant in cycles of presence and passing. Inseparable from the land we reside on, the Mānuka tree is seen as an extension of our existence, holding with it lessons of self, place and purpose. As a body of work, Under the Shade of the Mānuka functions as both a starting point and a continuation; the first in a sequence of growth which lays the groundwork for what comes next.
