Looking at the legacies and political dynamics of agriculture in Aotearoa New Zealand, What thrives on these soils considers how we might think about growth and prosperity. The exhibition includes artworks that illuminate the experiences of workers and the economies of working-class towns like Heretaunga Hastings—communities shaped by their proximity to farming industries.
The marketing slogan of Te Matau-a-Māui Hawke’s Bay, “Great things grow here,” promotes an abundance of opportunities for investment, industry, and personal success. Yet, the artists in this exhibition complicate this narrative. They examine the realities of working the land and the cycles of economic growth and decline in food and fibre production—asking who truly reaps the benefits. Their works interrogate global systems of exchange that shape markets for labour and produce, as well as entrenched settler-colonial perspectives that frame the land as a site for individual profit.
Together, these artists foreground lived experiences and histories, and moments of collective resilience—gestures that might, in turn, seed new possibilities.
E aro ana ki ngā whakareretanga me ngā āhuatanga tōrangapū o te mahi ahuwhenua i Aotearoa, ko What thrives on these soils e kākahu ana i te āhua o ō tātou whakaaro mō te tōnuitanga me te tipu. Ka miramiratia e ngā toi o tēnei whakaaturanga ngā wheako o ngā kaimahi me ngā ōhanga o ngā tāone o ngā iwi mahi pēnei i a Heretaunga—ngā hapori i hangaia i runga i te tata ki ngā mahi ahuwhenua.
E whakatairanga ana te kōrero o Te Matau-a-Māui, “Great things grow here,” i te tini arawātea mō te haumi, te ahumahi, me te angitū o te tangata. Heoi, ko tā ngā ringa toi i tēnei whakaaturanga he takawhīwhiwhi i tēnei kōrero. Ka titiro rātou i ngā āhuatanga o te mahi i te whenua me ngā huringa o te tipu me te heke o ngā ōhanga i roto i te whakaputa kai me te weu—ka toko ake te pātai, ko wai ka hua, ko wai ka tohu. Ko ā rātou toi he torotoro i ngā pūnaha whakawhiti o te ao e hanga ana i ngā mākete mō te mahi me te whakaputa, otirā te tirohanga Pākehā i kitea ai te whenua hei pikinga whai rawa mā te kotahi.
Nā te mahi tahi a ngā ringa toi nei i aroaro ai ngā wheako, ngā hītori, me ngā wā o te manawaroa o te kapa—ngā āhuatanga, pea, e hua mai ai he āhuatanga hou.
