Memento Moa opens March 18, 2023

Gary Baseman returns to New Zealand with a new exhibition at the Suter Art Gallery, featuring dozens of new drawings and paintings and an installation featuring Manny Moa.

Exploring themes of migration, memory and mortality, and playing off the phrase “memento mori” which expresses the inevitability of death, Baseman reimagines Aotearoa New Zealand as a land of rebirth and harmony, bringing back the giant moa from extinction to symbolize those loved and now lost. Through iconic characters set in fantastical landscapes, this exhibition considers family, history, and the idea of home with the artist’s longstanding desire to “celebrate the beauty of the bittersweetness of life.”

Memento Moa runs from Saturday, March 18 through Sunday, June 11, 2023.

The Suter Art Gallery

208 Bridge Street,Nelson,7010 New Zealand
www.thesuter.org.nz