Hemi Macgregor
Senior lecturer, Whiti o Rehua School of Art
Hemi Macgregor is a Māori visual artist who works across sculpture, painting, installation, video and public art. Indigenous relationships and collaborative projects are central tenets in his work enabling him to establish robust indigenous networks through art and creativity. Macgregor teaches in undergraduate papers and the new MFA programmes.
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Expertise
Collaborative art projects; installation; painting; sculpture; video art; contemporary Māori art; contemporary indigenous art history and theory.
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Research Highlights
Ka Kata Te Po (2013)
A collaborative art installation between Saffronn Te Ratana, Ngataiharuru Taepa and Hemi Macgregor exhibited at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, as part of the 5th Auckland Triennial, ‘If you were to live here…’. Ka Kata Te Po examines the suppression and restriction of the Mana Motuhake - or authority of Tūhoe and Māori people - and gives a sense of the state raids on Tūhoe people in 15 October, 2007.
Remote Control (2012)
Remote Control was a solo exhibition which re-presented surveillance cameras as elements of Victorian architecture. These objects of antiquity allowed the observer to consider the role they play in our reality. In this work, Macgregor is questioning the purpose of recent political events such as the anti-terror raids and the Search and Surveillance Bill. To counter these acts by the Crown and State, Macgregor uses the ruru (native owl), as a night watchman to observe under the cover of darkness and act as kaitiaki to the land and the people.
Pacifica Styles (2006 – 2008)
Pacifica Styles was a joint exhibition with Natalie Robertson at University of Cambridge’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, United Kingdom. The two artists made an installation that used film and readymade sculptures exploring Māori relationships to land and the natural environment. This work presented notions of indigenous identity and cultural sustainability. Hemi Macgregor also exhibited his own sculptural works that explored indigenous identity within urban environments by utilising urban clothing such as hooded sweatshirts and baseball caps.
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Qualifications
BFA (Whanganui Regional Community Polytechnic)
MMVA (Massey University)
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Professional Affiliations
Te Atinga Contemporary Māori Arts Committee (a committee under Toi Māori Aotearoa Charitable Trust)
