Navigating the vast possibilities beyond the horizon, the artists in Long Horizon explore our culture, one woven through whakapapa, exchange, relationships, shared histories, and carried far beyond our shores. While the horizon suggests physical distance, Long Horizon reimagines it as a threshold to cross—a site of possibility and discovery rather than a barrier or boundary.

New Horizons by Dibble Studio marks a pivotal moment in time. Extending Paul Dibble’s Long Horizon series, it echoes the horizontally reclining abstracted figure, with elongated legs and shoulders extending into the surrounding landscape. Based directly on a sculptural drawing for a work he intended to realise but did not complete in his lifetime, it honours Dibble’s sculptural language while also speaking to transition, a point where one journey ends and another begins.

The sea and sky are spaces to be traversed and explored through the turbulent in vast seascapes of Neil Frazer and Joanna Braithwaite and whipped cloud formations of Neil Dawson’s Reflections – Clouds. Occupying the transitional space between land sea and sky, Mike Crawford’s cast glass “moon bird” Albatross Toroa (Manu Marama) is an embodiment of freedom, resilience, and kaitiaki guardian of the land, sea and sky. Echoing the ripples of waves in the distance, Johnny Turner’s Laylines (West) carved in Te Miro Waikato volcanic basalt, references the marine horizon of Himatangi Beach, where Dibble’s sculpture once stood.

Navigation and discovery are intrinsic to who we are as New Zealanders. Chris Charteris’s Anchor Stones firmly ground us in place, while Fred Graham’s Taurapa (Sternposts) carries us on a voyage through history and toward our future. Michael Hight, Simon Edwards, Ian Scott and Dick Frizzell draw our gaze inland and inward, from the dramatic coastline to our unique rugged mountain ranges to familiar rural roads and suburban settings. By capturing the isolated beauty of our environment in the present, they challenge us to treasure and protect what remains.

As an island nation, Aotearoa may be physically distant, yet it remains culturally outward-looking. Through te Ao Māori, Chris Heaphy, Darryn George, and Israel Birch explore identity and belonging, revealing culture as something fluid, shared, and universal.

Presented in partnership with Te Kano Estate.