Hana Pera Aoake (Ngati Hinerangi, Ngati Mahuta, Tainui) was selected by Delfina Foundation and Metroland Cultures to spend 12 weeks in London, between April and June 2024, as the Aotearoa New Zealand curator-in-residence in Delfina Foundation’s Spring 2024 Residency season. During the residency Hana spent time working alongside Metroland Cultures in Brent as well as pursuing their own research.
This is the second annual residency for a curator with Delfina Foundation and Metroland Cultures and was awarded following an open call to emerging / mid-career curators interested in testing and developing new approaches to a collaborative practice bridging artists and communities. Initiated by the Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa, the residency is offered in partnership with Delfina Foundation, Metroland Cultures and Te Tuhi.
Hana Pera Aoake is a Māori artist, writer, teacher and curator. Based in Kawerau, Hana is a mum of a cheeky two year old and has worked as the museum curator at the Sir James Fletcher Kawerau museum, is a part time lecturer at University of Canterbury in art history and co-organises Kei te pai press with Morgan Godfery. Hana’s practice hinges on ways to share ideas, knowledge and resources in accessible ways to benefit her rural community, and in building connections to larger, globalised struggles.
Hana has published widely including in Granta, It's freezing in LA, Overland and the Australia and New Zealand art history journal. Hana published their first book of poetry and prose, a bathful of Kawakawa and hot water with Compound Press in 2020. Recent projects include participating in the Digital fellowship programme 2024 with Creative Australia and Creative New Zealand; I saw the mountain erupt (2023), Mason's screen, commissioned by Wellington City Council and Circuit Moving Image; Folded Memory with Taarn Scott, at the Adam art gallery (2023-24), curated by Sophie thorn and Susan Ballard and they were a finalist in the Kiingi Tuheitia portraiture prize (2023).
While in London, Hana spent part of each week working at Metroland Cultures and the rest of their time with six other artists / curators / writers in Delfina Foundation’s Spring Residencies, pursuing their own research and with an interest in sharing key Māori and decolonial texts and creating spaces to read, think and learn together.
The residency is a research residency with no specific outcomes other than personal learning and development and bilateral sharing of knowledge.
Hana’s research had three areas of enquiry: developing an understanding of the area of Kilburn; consideration of the movement of plants from Aotearoa; and a consideration of Māori taonga held at various institutions both inside and outside the UK.
Of their residency in London Hana wrote:
Project Stories - written for the British Council, by Hana Pera Aoake:
During my curatorial residency at Delfina Foundation this year, I was hosted by Metroland Cultures. When I first went to Metroland cultures, the thing that struck me was the generosity of every person that I met and how despite feeling very far away from home, I felt completely welcomed and immediately a part of this network of artists, curators, producers, filmmakers, and organisers. It’s often surprising to feel listened to and respected without needing to prove anything, but instead feel held in an openness that sometimes we aren’t afforded in our own art communities. The words ‘care’ and ‘community’ feel inadequate in describing the manaakitanga, whanaungatanga and love I experienced while working at Metrolands for almost three months.
Metroland Cultures describes itself as a charity dedicated to engaging with people, histories and stories of Brent through creative practice and grassroots organisations to provide a space for difficult conversations, the role of art as a vehicle for social transformation and for young people to navigate a career within this precarious industry. What impressed me perhaps the most was that they never shied away from difficult conversations, conflict and disagreement. Instead, as an organisation they sought to find ways of thinking through what it means to belong to a place like Kilburn/Brent/London and all of the ways political and social issues are a part of these places and how as artists and cultural producers these are things our work must engage with thoughtfully.
Metrolands was an inspiring place to work, because it's a site where different kinds of artistic, cultural, social and political work happens. There is a gallery space, a community radio (K2K radio), a zine library, a community cinema (Other Cinemas), and offers free studios to 24 local artists, including those a part of Peer to peer programme, where a bunch of artists with a relationship to Brent get a free studio for a year, a grant and a number of workshops. It's a space that very much continues in spite of austerity, difference and all the other difficulties involved in trying to keep something like this going. It made me realise that if you can sustain something like Metrolands in a city like London, then perhaps it's possible to develop a similar model in Aotearoa. While at Metrolands I planted a garden, organised a hikoi and worked alongside Other Cinemas to organise a screening of Merata Mita’s documentary Patu! and Anna Rankin and Alaa’ Breighith’s Fixed Star, followed by a kōrero. I also tried to just listen and give back some of the love and respect I was given, although I don’t know that I was wholly successful. I have deep love and respect for Lois, Dan, Lizzie, Izzy, Christy, Heiba, Arwa, Turab, Amanda, Chun, Zish, Sue and the many other people that make that space so special.
Despite missing my family, part of me never wanted to leave, but each night I was extremely grateful to return home to the Delfina foundation. During my time at Delfina, I met a group of amazing and very special artists, curators and researchers, of which I lived alongside many of them, ate with them, partied with them, had fancy networking lunches with them, and we visited studios, museums, archives, galleries and Cambridge together. Mostly I was grateful for some of the conversations we shared (often in the kitchen) where I was challenged, laughed hysterically and learnt so much about myself, what I believe, politics, art and the world. I really miss and will be forever grateful to Giana De Dier (Panama), Jenna Shaw (USA), Madhushree Kamak (India), Chaong-Wen Ting (Taiwan), Pamela Cevallos (Ecuador), Claire Shiying Li (UK associate), Mohit Shelare (India), Aziza Kadyri (UK associate), Emilio Bianchic (Uruguay/México/Argentina), Derek Tumala (Philippines) and Marisabel Villagomez (Bolivia). Additionally I am grateful to Helen, Roshy, Angela, Gillean, Sarah, Aaron, and especially Erin and Danni for hosting me and enabling all of us to come together. I look forward to meeting everyone again somewhere in the world.
Partners
Delfina Foundation
Based in the heart of London, Delfina Foundation is an independent, non-profit foundation dedicated to facilitating artistic exchange and developing creative practice through residencies, partnerships and public programming.
Founded in 2007, and with residencies at the core of their work, Delfina Foundation creates opportunities for emerging and established artists, curators and writers to reflect on what they do, position their practice within relevant global discourse, create career-defining research and commissions, and network with colleagues. Delfina Foundation forge international collaborations to build shared platforms to incubate, to present and to discuss common practices and themes.
Metroland Cultures
Metroland Cultures is an arts charity based in and serving the London Borough of Brent. Metroland Cultures' vision is that Brent is known globally for its arts and culture, and its people and communities are recognised and celebrated for shaping it. Their mission is to build, share and support art and culture in Brent: supporting communities to amplify stories of Brent life, and working with artists to tell new stories.
Four building blocks inform Metroland Cultures’ approach:
- We start with Brent people and celebrate what’s already here. Our work is grounded in the stories, needs and histories of people. We listen, learn and act with our community. A big part of Brent cultural life is people doing it for themselves. We find ways to support people who are doing this.
- We connect artists with communities. We bring artists and grassroots organisations together, to hold conversations about what the borough needs, and use art to make it happen.
- We stand for social justice. We make space for difficult conversations, and work towards dismantling inequality anywhere we find it including at Metroland. We want everyone to be able to access the culture we make.
- We’re on the side of the future. Brent has one of the youngest populations in London so our work has to equip young people with the skills and confidence that they have the right to make art and culture.
Metroland Cultures’ intention is for the programme to sit at the intersection of art and community, testing and pioneering new approaches that centre partnerships, strategies and approaches for community and artist collaboration. They do this through music and visual arts with an annual festival, young people’s programme and artist development programme. At the heart of everything is a culture of learning, development and transparency with their constituencies.
Te Tuhi
Te Tuhi is a leading platform for contemporary art in Aotearoa New Zealand, with a programme consciously and continually shaped towards rigorous, adventurous, and socially engaged artistic experimentation. Alongside the gallery in Pakuranga, Te Tuhi studios offers artists spaces to work in Parnell, adjacent to the Parnell Project Space, an exhibition, performance and event space located on the platform at Parnell Station, Tāmaki Makaurau. Te Tuhi also works extensively with multiple communities in East Auckland.
Supporters
This project has been made possible through the very generous support of
Kent Gardner
Creative New Zealand
British Council Aotearoa New Zealand and Pacific through the British Council Connections Through Culture programme.
