Chris Heaphy’s latest exhibition The Sound of Your Voice develops an ongoing enquiry into identity through cultural exchange, amalgamation and juxtaposition. Underpinned by a deeply personal response to questions such as ‘who are we?’ and ‘what does it mean to live here in Aotearoa?’, Heaphy’s work maintains an openness, encouraging the viewer to engage with the exhibition through a lens of personal perception and experience. Employing the silhouette as a vessel to carry narrative, there is a directness to Heaphy’s visual language, while over time an unfolding or unveiling of complexities inherent to the enquiry appear.
In this body of work, we see the introduction of foliage in silhouette – predominantly introduced species – such as gorse, hemlock, roses, chrysanthemums and magnolias. Some are placed in reference to Ikebana (the Japanese art of flower arranging) to emphasize simplicity, harmony and a connection to nature. These arrangements are often inhabited by silhouetted birds, a reminder of the fragility of life. Drawing from personal observation, Heaphy is interested in how things exist together and side by side. In representing the natural world, he creates metaphors for how things coexist in culture and society.
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Chris Heaphy, I Can't Find the Way to the Words, 2026NZD 28,000.00 -
Chris Heaphy, I Can't Tell Where You End and I Begin, 2026
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Chris Heaphy, This Will Always Be Remembered Until It's Not, 2026NZD 28,000.00
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Chris Heaphy, A Song From Memory, 2026NZD 85,000.00
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In combination with this is an interest in the materiality of the painted surface. In sweeps and pulls Heaphy embraces experimentation and moments of chance. Collisions of colour, line and plane emerge from what Heaphy describes as a ‘fascination with the flat painted surface.’ At times singular, at times overlaid, the silhouette becomes a means to explore the effects of colour on colour and the dramatic power it can have to define form, create texture and conjure emotion.
There are echoes of collision and juxtaposition that sound throughout the exhibition, both in materiality and form. In silhouette, we might distinguish a swallow perched on a crop of introduced thistle or broom; a sparrow, perched on a ginger jar; or a robin sitting high on a sprig of gorse. Native and introduced species mix and co-exist. Within this landscape Heaphy’s birds feel at home, they are at ease with their surroundings. There is something inclusive about this outlook, a quiet, recurring positivity that hums through Heaphy’s work, supported by titles such as These Are the Days to Remember and Feels Like You Belong.
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Chris Heaphy, If You See Darkness Look Away, 2026NZD 5,500.00
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Chris Heaphy, Into the Flood Lights, 2026NZD 5,500.00
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Chris Heaphy, Dancing in Time, 2026NZD 5,500.00
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Chris Heaphy, Seeing For the First Time, Hearing for the Last Time, 2026
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