Author Description

Texturally rich and profoundly beautiful, Islanders surveys the work of New Zealand sculptor Jo Torr, who explores cultural exchange through the lens of costume and textile history. Her exquisitely designed and authentically detailed garments provide an intriguing mode for understanding the history and vogues of early European and Polynesian encounters, both in New Zealand and in wider Polynesia. Islanders brings together for the first time works from eleven suites of Torr's previously exhibited work, along with brand-new works made for Objectspace. The exhibition is accompanied by a publication featuring large-scale images and commissioned essays by Kolokesa Mahina-Tuai, Andrew Paul Wood, and Chanel Clarke that consider the theme of cultural exchange in Torr's practice from European, Maori and Pasifika perspectives.