Folk Nationalism and other stories

Working across painting, drawing and sculpture, Ayesha Green (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga, Kāi Tahu) examines histories of Māori and Pākehā representation. Green’s work focuses on imagery where intercultural relationships intersect, overlap or diverge—from Māori pūrākau, such as the separation of Rangi and Papa, to the signing of the treaties of Waitangi, to Prince William meeting Buzzy Bee. Her exhibition Folk Nationalism traces and contests the ways these images pervade our daily lives and shape our sense of nationhood.

Folk Nationalism and other stories is the first publication dedicated to Ayesha Green's practice. It features texts by nine writers who take different routes to and through her work. Through subtle acts of mirroring and repositioning, Green refracts the often-simplified way that images from the history of Aotearoa have been read. Like Green, the writers in Folk Nationalism and other stories demonstrate how numerous, diverse and contradictory meanings converge within these images.

With contributions by Francis McWhannell, Elle Loui August, Hanahiva Rose, Madison Kelly, Jess Nicholson, Moewai Marsh, Matariki Williams, Lachlan Taylor and Sarah Hudson.