Opening Weekend Artist Talk

Opening Weekend Artist Talk: Sean Hill, Andy Leileisi'uao, Sefton Rani, and Elliot Collins in conversation.

On the occasion of the opening of Sean Hill's 'Energtopia' in the Open Window Gallery on Queen Street, join four artists and makers for a kōrero about the work.

Sean Hill is a Kiwi Samoan emerging visual artist from Auckland, currently based in New Plymouth whose art practice is influenced by graffiti as well as his heritage, everyday life and the natural environment and includes painting outdoors, graphic design, installation, paintings and prints on clothing.

Andy Leleisi'uao (b. 1969) is a New Zealand tusiata/artist of Samoan heritage known for his unique visual narratives whose work often references the human condition, social, cultural and political issues from a New Zealand born Samoan perspective.

Sefton Rani is of Cook Island heritage and describes himself as a maker, who uses paint as his primary material. Based in Auckland, he is a visual DJ who mashes up made / found abstraction with industrial materials to create contemporary Pasifika art.

Dr Elliot Glenn Punahau Collins is an artist who works across an interdisciplinary range of media with aspirations of working across Aotearoa amongst people and objects who sit in the difficult places of history and memory that help us live better lives by revealing their stories and sharing their 'knowledges'.


Image credit: Sean Hill, Samoan Tapa cloth and nature study 01, 2022, detail, acrylic on wooden pallet. Courtesy of the artist.