Banner image: excerpt from George Turner, Shareable Flag, Bowen Galleries
Exhibitions and events
Tomorrow’s histories: photographs by Neil Penman
Neil Penman’s photographs of Porirua mark significant moments in the city’s history and honour the legacy of a photographer who believed that ‘every photograph taken today becomes a vital record for the generations of tomorrow’.
Pātaka Art + Museum, Corner Norrie & Parumoana streets, Porirua
8 August - 8 November 2026
10am–5pm, 7 days a week
Slow Burn: Women and Photography/Ahi Tāmau: Māreikura Whakaahua
Slow Burn showcases the diversity of photography by women and non-binary artists in Aotearoa New Zealand from the 1960s to today.
Te Papa, Toi Art Galleries, L4.
55 Cable Street, Te Aro, Wellington
February 2026 - January 2027
10am to 6pm every day except Christmas Day
That’s you Mugwort! - performance
Ann Shelton’s That’s you Mugwort! (2026) is a performance commission for the exhibition Slow Burn: Women and Photography | Ahi Tāmau: Māreikura Whakaahua, curated by Lissa Mitchell.
That’s you Mugwort! traces the relationships between plants and humans, weaving together fragments on herbal knowledge, witch hunts, reproductive control, pharmaceuticals, and plant futures.
Featuring performers Jo Bragg (Takatāpui, he/they pronouns, Ngati Porou Iwi), with a second performer (to be advised), along with vessels made by ceramicist Lisa Coleman.
Saturday 8 August, 3-3.30pm
Toi Art galleries, L4
Te Papa
Leslie Adkin: Farmer Photographer
Leslie Adkin (1888–1964) was a Levin farmer, photographer, geologist, ethnologist and explorer, a gifted amateur and renaissance man, of sorts, who used photography to document his scholarly interests, farming activities and family life. His much loved and exceptionally beautiful photographs taken between 1900 and the 1930s are one of the highlights of Te Papa’s historical photography collection.
Te Papa, Toi Art galleries, L 4
27 June 2025 – February 2027
10am to 6pm every day except Christmas Day
New Zealand Photography Selected
Te Papa, At the top of the stairs, L 5
This display is a small sample of photographs from New Zealand Photography Collected (Te Papa Press).
Explore early photographs, commercial images from the mid-20th century, and works from the beginning of contemporary art photography in Aotearoa.
27 February - 31 August 2026
10am to 6pm every day except Christmas Day
Not a solitary feeling
Curated by: Susan Ballard and Sophie Thorn
Not a solitary feeling is a group show bringing perspectives from the environmental humanities to Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection. Including a selection of loaned and collection works the exhibition explores how artworks open boundaries between human and nonhuman, planet and atmosphere.
Artists: Tanya Ashken, Fiona Connor, John Bevan Ford, Brett Graham, Ayesha Green, Mark Harvey, Christine Hellyar, Ross Hemera, Yuki Kihara, Layla Rudneva-Mackay, Melissa Macleod, Colin McCahon, Kate Newby
Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Gate 3, Kelburn Parade, Wellington
4 July – 11 October 2026
Tues - Sun, 11am-5pm
Fast Track
Fast Track George Turner’s exhibition at Bowen Galleries brings together a year of studio research into contemporary land use in Aotearoa New Zealand. Based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Turner is a transdisciplinary artist working across painting, sculpture, installation, moving image, and digital processes.
Bowen Galleries, 2/39 Ghuznee Steet, Te Aro, Wellington
21 July - 8 August
Tuesday - Friday 11am - 5pm & Saturday 11am - 4pm
1840
Hendrix Hennessy-Ropiha
McLeavey Gallery, 147 Cuba St, Wellington
31 July - 15 August
11am -5pm Wednesday to Friday & 11am-3pm Saturday
Pink Castles, Burning Windows
Harry Culy
Jhana Millers Gallery, Level 1/85 Victoria Street, Te Aro, Wellington
16 July - 9 August
11am -4pm Wednesday to Saturday
Surface Memory
Deidra Sullivan
Pātaka, Toi Gallery, 17 Parumoana Street, Porirua City Centre, Porirua
25 July - 9 August
10am -5pm Monday to Saturday