The 5 synchronised screens displayed on the Gallery’s main upstairs landing.
I was recently privileged to visit and review the Whiria ko te iwi tuna exhibition compiled by the Toiaa Taiao Artist Collective.
Pepi Joy-Gilgen’s silken eel, displayed alongside essential background readings as recommended by the exhibition Toiaa Taiao artists.
The exhibition was hosted by the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in Ngāmotu (New Plymouth) between 28 February and 18 July 2026.
The Toiaa Taiao Artist Collective comprises Tihikura Hohaia (Ngāti Moeahu), sound-recordist Maree Sheehan (Tainui, Ngai Tahu) and film-maker Alex Monteith, who is Irish.
This stunning exhibition featured tuna (eels) and other native species inhabiting the coastal reaches of Te Whanganui Stream, near Pungarehu, central-coastal Taranaki.
The exhibition emphasised historical land and resource dispossession, industrial spoilation and agricultural ruin – yet, perhaps, organic survival and indigenous authority.
The 3 individual precursor screens displayed on the Gallery’s lower mezzanine landing.
My review appeared in the Art New Zealand magazine, number 199, Spring 2026, page 50.
Pungarehu today, once thriving, now bit of a ghost town.
Plse click here to read the review: Whiria ko te iwi tuna.