Sue Hawker’s exploration of culture, history, adornment and identity extends its reach from the traditions of European portrait busts to the specifics of New Zealand’s recent history. Her work celebrates feelings of being, senses of belonging and is redolent with symbolic meanings.

I Am …. Pakeha – just who or what is that exactly?

This body of work explores this question through an examination of history and notions of identity. Hawker uses a classical portrait bust form as a universal metaphor upon which uniquely New Zealand symbols are added – fish, bird, koru patterns, weaving, gecko, knucklebones.

Each work debates specific events or a legacy – Five Ages of Pakeha refers to Cook’s arrival in Matauri Bay, Northland. The Foreshore and Seabed Act is explicitly referenced in Lady with a Stole.