Opening event: Elizabeth Thomson and Gregory O’Brien on Cellular memory

Please join us to celebrate the opening of Cellular memory on Saturday 24 September. Artist Elizabeth Thomson and exhibition curator Gregory O’Bien will give a floor talk at 2pm, taking a closer look at the concept of ‘cellular memory’ that has guided this presentation from its conception and around the country on its national tour. Now exhibited in the canopy of our upper galleries with a view to the Waitākere Ranges and Manukau Harbour, this conversation will look to the landscape of Titirangi and its lasting impact on Thomson’s sensibility and making. 

Elizabeth Thomson (born 1955, Auckland) graduated with an MFA from Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, in 1989. Since then her work has been exhibited widely throughout New Zealand and abroad. Based in Wellington since 1991, she works in a converted factory in the suburb of Newtown. Thomson is represented by Two Rooms Gallery (Auckland), Page Galleries (Wellington) and The Central Gallery (Christchurch).

Gregory O’Brien is a poet, painter, curator, essayist, and printmaker. With one foot in the literary world, the other in the visual art realm, O’Brien has been a prolific and busy presence on the cultural scene for nearly three decades. He has overseen Cellular memory on its national tour as its curator.

Image: Elizabeth Thomson, My Titirangi Years – not sure about the neighbours, 2019, glass spheres, optically clear epoxy resin, aqueous isolation, cast vinyl, lacquer on contoured and shaped wood panel.

24 September, 8am-6pm