Minumental
Group Exhibition
12–29 September

Antonia Boyle works with themes of medical intervention on the body. The wearability means they remain close to the body, however, there is a transformation from mere anatomy, by taking on new metaphors for us to consider; interconnectedness, support and community, the cyclical nature of life and death.

Born in Northumberland, England, Amelia Rothwell is a contemporary jeweller living in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Her practice explores the language and tactility of materials and form, and their relationship to the body.

Aphra Cheesman’s work often examines our complex relationships with commonplace materials and objects. She has an ongoing practice of observing and collecting within her own daily life from which her research and creative works often evolve.

Fran Leitch’s work is made in a cathartic manner, with slow, paced movements, with a deeply personal, physical and emotional attachment. They are about her change in life circumstances and status, and no longer being able to see her two most wonderful creations, as much as she used to, and having to learn how to deal with that.

Jack Hadley is an artist and educator based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Jack’s practice jumps between contemporary jewellery, motorised sculpture and furniture design.

Chilean born, New Zealand citizen, Maca Bernal obtained a MVA from Otago Polytechnic in 2018. She chooses Contemporary Jewellery because its wearability offers interactivity, exploring ideas of value in the bond between jewellery and wearer, as wearable forms of archive, or as a platform for socio-political statements.

Mia Straka is one of four partners in Tāmaki Makaurau based jewellery studio Workshop6. Since graduating in 2001 with a Bdes(hons)jewellery from Unitec, Auckland, Straka has exhibited regularly with projects touring public institutions and galleries nationally and internationally. Works are held in the Wallace Arts Trust Collection (NZ).

Drawing on my combined experiences of working in science and art in New Zealand, Michelle Wilkinson’s work tells stories of the world through natural history metaphors and allegories. Rewilding Series, 2024, encourages the viewer to empathise with another creature - rewild yourself and get lost in the glorious complexity of nature.

Nikki Perry is a jewellery artist from Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand. Working intuitively with found and used household materials this is a personal documentation, engaging discussions around domesticity and consumerism, prescription, materiality and reality, use and non-use ~ rummaging discordant waste in an attempt to find jewelleryness.

Nina van Duijnhoven’s work explores environmental issues and spiritual beliefs such as impermanence and non-attachment Paper is her current material of choice to express ideas around ephemerality.

Simon Swale is an artist, designer and educator based in Ōtepoti Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand, whose explorations in body adornment extend across fashion, jewellery, and the wider fields of art practice. Simon completed an MFA in contemporary jewellery at the Dunedin School of Art in 2020, winning a Marzee prize at the International Graduate Show hosted by Galerie Marzee

Susan Videler is a maker and a collector from Dunedin, New Zealand. She joined Handshake6 in 2020 and has enjoyed exhibiting annually with group members since then. Being human intrigues her; the body, the psyche, particularly memory and how objects and symbols stimulate us. Jewellery is the perfect interface.