A new exhibition at Raglan Museum covers 1970s art and history including the late Eva Rickard’s fight to have the old Raglan Golf Course returned to her people. The exhibition of hand printed posters, created by leading New Zealand artists, covers the work of ‘Aotearoa Liberators’ and includes the work of three local artists – Xavier Meade, Jenny Rhodes and the late Katerina Mataira.
The exhibition opened on Saturday 1st June at the museum. Kaumatua Sean Ellison and Paddy Kaa blessed the exhibition before it was opened by Museum President Patrick Day. The exhibition’s creator Xavier Meade said, “I’m pleased to have the exhibition on display in such a perfect setting within the presence of Mount Karioi.”
The exhibition was created in 2007 by Xavier Mead, a Wintec eco-design and visual arts lecturer. Called ‘Aotearoa Liberators’, the 12 posters by separate artists display some of New Zealand’s leading identities. The designs were printed in the legendary screenprint shop of the ICAIC in Havana, Cuba. The ICAIC printers have produced seminal posters vital to the Cuban Revolution, and cinema and education since 1959. They use only manual techniques.
Xavier says that each of the posters has an accompanying story. Other artists to contribute works were Josh Watene, Dion Hitchens, James Orsmby, Tessa Laird, Simon Cuming, Leafa Wilson, Warren Olds and Nicola Farquhar. A number of the artists were present at the opening including Jenny Rhodes, whose poster depicts Eva Rickard and tells of the late Maori activist’s fight to have the old Raglan Golf Course land returned to her people.
It has only been shown once in Raglan before, at the
Kokiri Centre. The collection has been displayed in many places around the world including Cuba where the posters were screen printed, Mexico from where Xavier was born and also at Spain’s Museum of Illustration in Valencia. In New Zealand the posters have been shown in Christchurch, Hamilton, Waiheke and also at Taranaki’s Parihaka International Peace Festival. After the Raglan Museum exhibition ends the posters will be heading to an exhibition in Edinburgh although their permanent base will now be the Raglan Museum.
The exhibition is open daily until the end of June.