Female subjectivity and feminist narratives inspire Lonnie Hutchinson’s distinctive approach to art-making. She is also interested in pattern, the interplay of light and shadow, and the navigation of space and time, which are further enriched by her Māori (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kuri Ki) and Samoan heritage. According to the artist:
Intrinsic to each series within my art practice, I honour tribal whakapapa or genealogy. In doing so, I move more freely between the genealogy of past, present and future to produce works that are linked to memories of recent and ancient past, that are tangible and intangible . . . I make works that talk about those spaces in-between, those spiritual spaces.1
Lonnie Hutchinson ‘Becoming Sound’ 2021

Becoming Sound 2021 (illustrated) on display in ‘sis: Pacific Art 1980–2023’ at the Gallery of Modern Art until 8 September 2024, is a work that demonstrates both the conceptual consistency and technical innovation of Hutchinson’s practice. The work references rongoā (traditional Māori medicine), and through its sleek sculptural form and patterning, it acts as a conduit for the transfer of energy in the healing process. The title highlights the work’s conical form and the way the shape is employed to both concentrate and amplify energy, as one would detect sound via a stethoscope, as a doctor listens to a beating heart, or in creating sound through a musical instrument; however, Hutchinson uses her ‘instrument’ to create a state of soundness — to become well.
With an interior that is painted black, the internal space of Becoming Sound represents Te Kore and the Māori idea of a void where all things begin. The late statesman Moana Jackson CRSNZ (1945–2022) described Te Kore as a space of creative potential.2 Audiences have access to this realm through the sculpture’s intricate laser-cut patterning, which takes the form of the leaves of the kawakawa plant (Piper excelsum) that is indigenous to New Zealand. Used in tonics and skin care products and known for its healing properties, the kawakawa plant is a popular reference to a state of soundness offered by Māori knowledge systems.
The work’s open, almost architectural, form and mirrored plinth calls on viewers to meditate on their idea of space, while the title speaks to how the interior/exterior presentation of the self exposes both the state of our well-being and that of our taiao (environment). Becoming Sound also reflects on the cosmological significance that rongoā (medicinal plants) have, not only for healing people, but also for healing Papatūānuku (Mother Earth).
Ruth McDougall is Curator, Pacific Art, QAGOMA
This is an edited extract from the exhibition publication sis: Pacific Art 1980-2023 available at QAGOMA Stores and online.
‘sis: Pacific Art 1980–2023’ / Marica Sourris and James C. Sourris AM Galleries (3.3 & 3.4), GOMA / 26 August – 8 September 2024.
Endnotes
1 Lonnie Hutchinson, quoted in Linda Tyler, Lonnie Hutchinson: Black Bird [exhibition catalogue], Gus Fisher Gallery, Dowse Art Museum and University of Auckland, 2015.
2 Moana Jackson, ‘The art of having faith in ourselves’, in Nigel Borell (ed.), Toi Tū Toi Ora: Contemporary Māori Art, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and Penguin Random House, Auckland, 2021, p.1.
Featured image: Lonnie Hutchinson, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Kuri ki, Samoan, Celtic, Aotearoa New Zealand b.1963 / (Foreground) Becoming Sound 2021, (L to R) Cinco 2002, Crux decussta 2022, Celestial bodies 2022, and I am the sea (the sea is me) 2022 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery l Gallery of Modern Art / © Lonnie Hutchinson / Photograph: J Ruckli © QAGOMA
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