Local artists delighted at MMCA selection

This year’s Molly Morpeth Canaday Award 2025 looks set to be another exciting exhibition, with 50 finalists selected from the 548 entries from across New Zealand.

Among the finalists are Eastern Bay artists. The Beacon finds out a bit more about the art practice of three of these local finalists.

Adrienne Ranson’s work entered in the MMCA, titled Sally and Vaviola, is a photograph taken on a Kodak Brownie camera popular in the 1970s, and then digitally printed.

“It is an image that can create different meanings depending on the viewpoint of the reader,” she said. “For me, the image has personal, social, political and spiritual readings. It combines memories from my childhood, my relationship and travels with my parents, my interest in East Asian Buddhist philosophy of the mind, as well as my social awareness of cultural difference and attendant political interpretations,” she said.

The dolls – Sally and Vaviola – appear of two different cultures, European and Fijian, the diffuse Chinese script in the background adding a geo-political dimension to this intriguing work.

Ranson, who recently graduated from Elam with a doctorate in Fine Art, has a special interest East Asian Buddhist thinking and practice.

"Over the years my art practice continues to explore my understanding of how reality and the mind exists and functions according to Buddhist philosophy and practice.”

Amy Korenhof’s tapa work, Tagata o le Moana, recalls the ancestral connections throughout Te Moana-nui-ā-Kiwa (Pacific Ocean).

“At first glance,” the artist explains, “the distinct colours and Sumu of the Sāmoan flag are evident.”

However, as you move closer and at particular angles, motifs emerge along with their deeper meanings, honouring those who have generously shared knowledge with her, she said.

Korenhof said two Matariki celebrations ago, she picked up tapa tools alongside others who whakapapa to the moana, guided by tufuga (Sue Pearson (Norfolk Island, Pitcairn Island, Tahiti).

Reclaiming the practice and joy of tapa making, Korenhof honours her grandmother Sagaia, who made siapo and 'ie tōga. Now, Korenhof has three generations of her 'āiga making tapa together; her mother, sister, son and niece.

Hannah Irakau Pehi has a textile work in the MMCA, titled, Kaitiaki o Tōku Ngākau / Guardian of my viscera.

The piece is a contemporary corset constructed from muka with mānuka boning and eyelets using the traditional Māori weaving technique of whatu.

“I have just completed my Bachelor of Art, Te Maunga Kura Toi with Te Wānanga o Aotearoa,” she said.

“The inspiration for the corset was an exploration of what my tūpuna could have created with the materials they had in response to the new fashions brought to Aotearoa in the mid 1800s.

“It is also to honour and acknowledge my whakapapa, my Māori and my Scottish heritage, the DNA I carry which the corset wraps around and protects.”

The piece was hundreds of hours in its creation: “A joyful problem solving, solution seeking journey. There's not anything I could find quite like it, so I've been privileged to make it up as I go along.”

The artist said she was very excited about the upcoming exhibition.

Presented by Arts Whakatāne and exhibition partner Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi - Whakatāne Library and Exhibition Centre, the MMCA is New Zealand's longest-running annual non-acquisitive award.

A $10,000 Major Award is up for grabs in this competition, as well as a runner-up prize and multiple other smaller awards.

The awards night on February 1 will be followed by an exhibition of the finalists’ work in Te Koputu’s gallery