Hidden Inheritance

“Hidden Inheritance” seeks to build knowledge of the diaspora of Fijian Indians living in New Zealand descended from the Girmityas (indentured labourers). The works delve into the little-known history of the 60,000 Indians who came to Fiji, often through coercion and manipulation to work in agriculture, sugar mills or train lines between 1879 and 1916. The work explores themes of hope, adventure, hardship, and intergenerational impact through virtual reality and augmented reality, as well as photography, painting, collage, textiles, and performance.

16 November 2024 – 1 March 2025 (extended)

Free activities and events:

Artist links:

Nadia uses electronic music, live sampling and poetry to tell the story of the 60,000 Indians brought to Fiji based on a promise too good to be true.

Wednesday 20th November, 6:30pm

Performance by Nadia Freeman:

Shivani will demonstrate how to incorporate your own art in a virtual reality environment.
Bookings are essential; please contact the gallery.

Virtual reality & mixed media workshop:

Fijian artists and community Talanoa:

Open discussion for artists and community

Saturday 15th February, time TBC

Saturday 8th February, time TBC

Saturday 23rd November, 2 – 4pm

Friday 22nd November, 2 – 4pm

A sample of fabric with incense marks is available in the gallery to touch while listening to the recording.

Title: Incensed
Medium: Incense marks on silk organza
Year made: 2023 - 2024
Description: My first take on the works is that they are evocative of maps, islands, large open spaces, island hopping, journeys leading to ‘no’ place or ‘some’ place, sometimes displaced.
Is this my interpretation because of childhood memories of island hopping in Fiji, spending as much time on water [on the move] as on land [more stationary]?
I also take time to reflect on the unimaginable journey my ancestors took crossing the kala pani for months on end, accompanied with their hopes, dreams and fears, only to be met with disappointments and difficulties.
These works invite you to think about origins and pathways, impermanence and resilience, connections and ties - how fragile or robust are these?

Padma Naidu

Born in Lautoka, Fiji and formally trained as an architect and educator, Padma has exhibited in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand as a solo artist, and in group shows.
Her process is meditative, quiet, and introspective where materials chosen guide the process.
Her mobile lifestyle, moving predominantly between Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland and Te Tauihu Top of the South, influences the choice of materials she uses to make art.
The two primary concerns when choosing materials are: they need to be easily transportable or locally available and that no waste is created.
In this instance, she uses incense sticks to make marks, guided by the folds and creases of the fabric [silk organza, some of which is 4.5 yards, the minimum length of a sari]. Incense burns through the fabric evaporating as smoke. The use of incense also references being incensed and cleansed.

Bio

Artwork on display (play for audio description)

Seema Singh

Seema is a Porirua-based mixed media artist - a fourth-generation descendent of Indian indentured labourers. She has created a collection of paintings that tell stories of the Girmit Women of Fiji. Seema uses traditional materials like turmeric, sindhoor, saree fabric, jute, and charcoal to create captivating artworks, often quite emotionally moving for the viewer. Her collage works are of a messy nature, a reflection of her family’s fragmented history, which is extremely overwhelming to collate and understand. By telling their stories through her paintings, Seema gives mana to her ancestors and to every indentured labourer that worked under the colonial rule in Fiji. She strongly believes that we, descendants, are the kaitiaki of the stories of the people before us..

Shivani Karan

Shivani Karan is an immersive artist whose work in Virtual Reality and mixed media transforms memory and heritage into sensory virtual landscapes, where personal and collective histories intertwine. A fourth generation descendant of Indian Girmityas, Shivani was born in Fiji and is now based in Tāmaki Makaurau, crafting works that are both intimate and expansive. Her collaborations with local and international artists, including Grammy-winning producer Hazebanga and Māori contemporary musician Allana Goldsmith, reflect her exploration of cultural and indigenous perspectives using new technologies to reimagine places and stories for future generations. Her award-winning project, Lane25, which was honoured at Doc Edge 2024, is an invitation to wander through liminal spaces, exploring how memory, sound, visuals and digital landscapes can be merged to re-imagine who we are.

Lane25 heart: Open Augmented Reality Memoir from LANE25

Nadia Freeman

Nadia is the 2023 winner of the Taite Prize for Outstanding Music Journalism, is the recipient of the APRA AMCOS Art Music grant 2023 and is the chair of the Eastern Sound Collective - a network for artists of Asian heritage in Wellington. Her solo shows 'Eat These Words' and 'Another Universe' have sold out at New Zealand and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. Her unusual performance works have been presented at the New Zealand International Festival of Arts, The Performance Arcade, Basement Theatre, Hidden Door Festival UK and Kia Mau Festival

Nadia uses electronic music, live sampling and poetry to tell the story of the 60,000 Indians brought to Fiji based on a promise too good to be true.