Past Exhibitions

Lisa Reihana

Extrait d'Image

15 Jul - 9 Aug 2017

Exhibition Works

Banks' Transit of Venus / Mourning / Stars / Sex Trade (15375)
Banks' Transit of Venus / Mourning / Stars / Sex Trade (15375) (2017)
Tupaia's Ceremony / Turtle Boys / Arioi Sass (08325)
Tupaia's Ceremony / Turtle Boys / Arioi Sass (08325) (2017)
Banks and Vahine / Tupaia's Map  (22010 / 24405)
Banks and Vahine / Tupaia's Map (22010 / 24405) (2017)
Sex Trade / Gift for Banks / Dancing Lovers / Sextant Lesson (18550 / 19205)
Sex Trade / Gift for Banks / Dancing Lovers / Sextant Lesson (18550 / 19205) (2017)
Cook's Transit of Venus (12520 / 13065)
Cook's Transit of Venus (12520 / 13065) (2017)
Curious Death Rites / Mangaian Bride (18550)
Curious Death Rites / Mangaian Bride (18550) (2017)
Taking Possession / Lono (30220 / 31380 / 34845)
Taking Possession / Lono (30220 / 31380 / 34845) (2017)
Flogging (22340)
Flogging (22340) (2017)
Women Weaving and Possum Cloak Making (04846)
Women Weaving and Possum Cloak Making (04846) (2017)
Omai and Obeera / Hawaiian Hula / Chiefly Pursuits (00000 / 00525)
Omai and Obeera / Hawaiian Hula / Chiefly Pursuits (00000 / 00525) (2017)
Cook's Folly (36000)
Cook's Folly (36000) (2017)

introduction

 
 
Stephen Higginson introduces Lisa Reihana's highly anticipated new works for her solo exhibition Extrait d'Image 
Video production: Fabia Oliveira
 

exhibition text

The still images in Extrait d’Image are moments in time chosen by Lisa Reihana from her acclaimed video work In Pursuit of Venus [infected], which was reimagined for Emissaries, New Zealand’s pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale. The Royal Academy of Arts listed the work as one of “ten highlights of this year’s contemporary art spectacular ” (1) and the Times UK declared “The best artwork at the Biennale? That will be Lisa Reihana’s In Pursuit of Venus (2).

Reihana confronts colonial narratives with a critical eye and re-presents the histories of European expansion into the Pacific. Interweaving fact and fiction, Reihana considers how knowledge acquires veracity based on a hegemonic epistemological foundation: she asks not only whose truth has been accorded prominence but why this has been the case.

Taken from the 64-minute digital artwork, Extrait d’Image references Reihana’s original inspiration for the project, the nineteenth century French wallpaper Les Sauvages de la Mer Pacifique,  illustrated by Jean-Gabriel Charvet. The wallpaper presented a mythologised Pacific; it was “ part instructive, part entertainment, and utterly reflective of its time: the ideological aspirations of Enlightenment thought and the Age of Reason” (3).

Reihana has literally ‘re-figured’ the subjects of the artworks. Created using state of the art technology, the luminosity of the images gives them a sense of immediacy; they seem only momentarily still, reinforcing the part they play in a larger whole. By removing the scenes from the unending, cyclical video work, Reihana deliberately raises once more questions of what is included and what is excluded in historical memories. The act of choosing singular scenes for Extrait d’Image, reminds the viewer that the artist too is an unreliable narrator, and the stories her images tell are part of a much larger cultural past and present.
 
1. www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/10-highlights-of-venice-biennale-2017. Accessed 4/7/17.
2. www.thetimes.co.uk/article/art-review-waldemar-januszczak-venice-biennale-xt8lhpf5l. Accessed 4/7/17.
3. Rhana Devenport, “Urges of Imperialism Unravelled”, The Contemporary Hum, 1 May 2017. Retrieved from www.contemporaryhum.com/emissaries.

lisa reihana at venice biennale 2017

On May 10th Lisa Reihana’s Emissaries opened at the Venice Biennale to popular and critical acclaim. Since its inception in 1895, La Biennale di Venezia has been recognised as one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in the world.

Click on the links below for more information.
 
nz at venice website
rhana devenport essay
alistair carruthers radio nz interview
paperboy feature article
inside the biennale 360 video
 

Exhibition Views