Robin White
Your Journey Starts Here, 2022
earth pigments, soot, plant dyes and masi
3280 x 1850mm
Dame Robin White b. 1946, Aotearoa Dame Robin White is among New Zealand’s most accomplished artists. She first became well known in the 1970s, when she produced her iconic hard-edged...
Dame Robin White
b. 1946, Aotearoa
Dame Robin White is among New Zealand’s most accomplished artists. She first became well known in the 1970s, when she produced her iconic hard-edged figurative paintings. These local landscapes and portraits are prime examples of the New Zealand ‘regionalist’ style of painting that emerged at this time.
In the early ‘80s, White moved with her family to Kiribati to live on the island of Tarawa and work with the Baháʼí community. There, in a very different physical and social environment, her work changed significantly. She began producing artworks that reflected daily life as she encountered it, with representations of local dwellings, language, and people. This change intensified after her home and studio were destroyed in a fire in 1996. Without the art supplies and working environment she was accustomed to, White adopted local methods and materials. In particular, she began using masi, a form of tapa cloth specific to Kiribati. She also began to work collaboratively with local artists and makers, and the results were spectacular. These works brought together artistic traditions of Kiribati with White’s distinctive graphic sensibility and knack for creating powerful images. She returned to Aotearoa in 1999, though continued to work collaboratively.
White created Your Journey Starts Here in collaboration with Ebonie Fifita in 2022. The work was first exhibited that year. An exhibition text states, “Continuing their collaboration in 2022 Robin and Ebonie draw on their immediate environment of Onehunga Mall offering back an experience of place, people and culture in everyday, finely articulated terms and depicting intimate subjects drawn from domestic interiors and still life.” 1 The reference to the specific location of Onehunga Mall is very fitting for 'This Must Be the Place'. Created in natural pigments on masi, the work features enchanting geometric patterns that respond to the local environment.
b. 1946, Aotearoa
Dame Robin White is among New Zealand’s most accomplished artists. She first became well known in the 1970s, when she produced her iconic hard-edged figurative paintings. These local landscapes and portraits are prime examples of the New Zealand ‘regionalist’ style of painting that emerged at this time.
In the early ‘80s, White moved with her family to Kiribati to live on the island of Tarawa and work with the Baháʼí community. There, in a very different physical and social environment, her work changed significantly. She began producing artworks that reflected daily life as she encountered it, with representations of local dwellings, language, and people. This change intensified after her home and studio were destroyed in a fire in 1996. Without the art supplies and working environment she was accustomed to, White adopted local methods and materials. In particular, she began using masi, a form of tapa cloth specific to Kiribati. She also began to work collaboratively with local artists and makers, and the results were spectacular. These works brought together artistic traditions of Kiribati with White’s distinctive graphic sensibility and knack for creating powerful images. She returned to Aotearoa in 1999, though continued to work collaboratively.
White created Your Journey Starts Here in collaboration with Ebonie Fifita in 2022. The work was first exhibited that year. An exhibition text states, “Continuing their collaboration in 2022 Robin and Ebonie draw on their immediate environment of Onehunga Mall offering back an experience of place, people and culture in everyday, finely articulated terms and depicting intimate subjects drawn from domestic interiors and still life.” 1 The reference to the specific location of Onehunga Mall is very fitting for 'This Must Be the Place'. Created in natural pigments on masi, the work features enchanting geometric patterns that respond to the local environment.