On Further Thought is a series of talks which address significant moments — published texts, exhibitions, art works — in local art history from the 1990s and early 2000s. The emphasis is on the act of re-reading, and on reflection itself as a productive form of research that helps us to navigate the present and energises our future art histories. We are particularly interested in research that acknowledges a changing of one’s mind, addresses misconceptions, and attends to the archive as a site of lively reclamation or transformation.

Emerging in response to local writer, arts programmer and curator Emma Ng’s prompt towards the formation of “an art history that can take us somewhere new” (Rattling the Shelves, Satellites Archive, 2024), the intention of this series is to deepen and expand our understanding of local and regional art histories, with a focus on those that may be insufficiently represented art history curricula and dominant exhibition-making practices. A further point of reference is Moana Jackson’s 2020 essay ‘Where to next?’: “[We] developed an intellectual tradition in which the world around us was as ordinary and as extraordinary as tapu....In this intellectual tradition we learned that memory and hope might seem fanciful but they can sometimes lead to new realities.”

July through September, six speakers will present a talk which revisits an art historical moment that they have some personal connection with, and critically reappraises this from where they stand now. These speakers don't all identify as art historians. Rather, the propositions come from a range of practitioners whose work has brought them into contact with the discipline and the wider contemporary arts sector. As a whole the series is intended as a contribution to the future of our multiple art histories in Aotearoa.

Each presentation will be introduced, and followed by a brief critical response from Te Pātaka Toi director Abby Cunnane. In the interests of maintaining an open space for frank and spontaneous kōrero, the talks will not be recorded live but will be published as papers subsequently.

Ane Tonga is an artist and curator of Tongan descent. Since 2020, Tonga has been the inaugural Curator, Pacific Art at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Her research interests are focused on Pacific art and curatorial practice, lens-based practices and Indigenous feminisms. Tonga’s work is represented in national and international collections such as Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhtū, and she has worked in curatorial and academic roles across Aotearoa, including at Rotorua Museum Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland. Her recent curatorial projects include Darcell Apelu: Carry me With you (2023); Declaration: A Pacific Feminist Agenda (2022) at Auckland Art Gallery; Sione Mōnu & Manuha‘apai Vaeatangitau, Kindred: A Leitī Chronicle (2022); Kereama Taepa: Transmission (2020) at Objectspace and Edith Amituanai: Double Take (2019) at Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery. Tonga studied fine arts at the Elam School of Fine Arts, and holds a Masters in Art History (First Class Honours) from the University of Auckland.