Image: Emily Parr, Whāingaroa, 35mm film (digital scan), 2021.

Surfacing is an exhibition of large-scale 35mm film photographs by Emily Parr (Ngāi Te Rangi, Moana, Pākehā). The artist is currently undertaking PhD study, a process which, in these early stages, is guided by narratives of whale migration.

Earlier in the year, Parr made a trip to Kaikōura to learn about the whales and former whaling stations there; some of the images in the exhibition come from that time.

Others are of Sāmoa and Tonga, where Emily’s paternal great-grandparents are from, and of Tauranga Moana, where the other side of her family is from. 

Alongside the photographs, two wall-based drawings in the space extend the project’s reach further back, to before the artist was born.