Thistle Hall: lesbian art show

Press Release – Thistle Hall
9 – 20 MARCH 2011

Luna2 Te Marama Te Marama, Te Marama: An Art Show with a Difference.


OPENING: 6.00 – 8.00.00pm Tuesday 8 March.

OPEN: 10.00am – 6.00pm weekdays, 10.00am – 7.00pm weekends.

Luna2 is the first national lesbian arts exhibition New Zealand has seen, to be held in conjunction with the popular 2nd Asia and Pacific OutGames in Wellington.
Though most artists are from the lower North Island, the exhibition will feature work of other nationally recognized lesbian artists, including a group from Auckland and an international author.
“Lesbian art celebrates lesbian being, and being lesbian; it is an art thousands of years old, an art that spins and paints and sculpts through countless generations; it is an art of memory, of pain, of awakening, of joy” says Professor Ngahuia Te Awekotuku of Waikato University.
The programme includes workshops, community talks, a literary performance evening and a book launch by Australian author Susan Hawthorne. In the inclusive spirit of women artists’ shows and the Wellington Women’s Gallery of the seventies and eighties, the works will challenge and expand the definition of art and the arts. There will be a mixing together of the woven, fashioned, knitted, painted and sculpted, paper and clay works, the played and written, the spoken and sung. It is expected that the venue will be a gathering place for visitors and participants during the OutGames.
“The scope,” says Jean Kahui “will cover what we hold dear, from love to its trials and tribulations and from fortune to fate. The wider community who come to see the show will, perhaps, see through our differences, our similarities.”
Thistle Hall is a vibrant community centre in the heart of New Zealand’s cultural capital. We provide a community hall, meeting room and Wellington’s only community gallery showcasing a range of artists and crafts people, from the established to the emerging. Thistle Hall is located on the corner of Cuba and Arthur streets. The shows on at Thistle Hall Community Gallery are run by the artists who hire it.

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