Gothic Revival

With her new exhibition Inheritance, Hannah Kidd’s practice has evolved from primarily depicting animals, often in a light-hearted and accessible way, to a concern with objects that carry the weight of the past. This new direction was inspired by an increasing number of inherited objects entering her own home in recent times. Yet the overriding question inherent to her work persists: how do we as humans relate to the environment around us?

Using her signature style of welding flattened pieces of corrugated iron onto a framework of metal rods, Kidd’s newest creations extend her ecocritical approach into a more controversial realm: one that explicitly engages with New Zealand’s colonial past. This is primarily achieved by contrasting colonial antiques such as candelabras, bone china tea sets and vases with mokomokai (Maori tattooed and preserved heads), thus alluding to Kidd’s European and Ngati Toa ancestry.

In pre-colonial Maori culture mokomokai were, , , and .