23/06/2026
Now on Show
Ayesha Green
๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ
exhibited as a part of
๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ
31 MAY - 9 AUG 2026
In ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ (2020), Ayesha Green uses 78 ceramic speech bubbles to explore the relationship between language, translation, and landscape. Through a process of moving between English and Te Reo Mฤori, words describing landscape-features shift in meaning, turning into actions and modifiers, revealing how language shapes our understanding of place. In his introduction to โLandscape and Power,โ art historian W. J. T. Mitchell expressed his desire to change โlandscapeโ from a noun to a verb โ Green does just that, with ease and precision: in her installation the noun โwaterfall,โ a landscape element, literally turns โ through a process of translations โ into a personified action: โto leapโ.
๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ draws attention to the ways landscapes are personified, creating intimate connections between people and the natural world, particularly through Mฤori understandings of whakapapa and the living presence of the land. By carving words into clay โ the earth itself โ Green materialises language within the landscape, while the speech bubbles evoke dialogue, voice, and the complexities of meaning that emerge through translation. The title is a play on words and raises the question of what actually constitutes a โlandscapeโ: Is it the visual representation, or the words used to describe it? And how do these words change, shift and take on new meanings when we start to unpick them?
Image Credit | Ayesha Green,
๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ 2020, glazed ceramics, 78 pieces, dimensions variable, Private collection
Photographed by
