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George Watson

@excgrl

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Unbelievably it’s already the final week of ‘Inter-narratives of hope; Stay away from nothing’ so, please join us for our finissage Argument Jams session in the Argument Lab with Danielle Freakley.

This Saturday October 24, 2–5pm at MADA Gallery.

Open to all, there will be live argument jams, card games, conflict resultions walk and talks, all in the argument lab.

‘A major structural anchor for this second show is Danielle Freakley’s instructional performance, Argument Jams. In my own research, I am trying to pull hope down from the speculative and lofty clouds of a deferred ‘later’ and look at it as a gritty, relational infrastructure. Freakley’s work does exactly this by intervening in the micro-dynamics of human speech, coercion, and obligation. It forces a hyper-awareness of how we construct consensus, conflict, and tender dependence through real-time conversations.’
- IHS on Danielle Freakley’s ‘Argument Jams’.

As with the first exhibition, Dennis Grauel designed our beautiful catalogue, printed artfully by Stray Pages. It features a poem by P. STAFF, an essay by Liz Smith, writing and illustrations by Liv Moriarty and a conversation between Bella and Paul.

A huge and heart filled thank you to all the artists and contributors across both exhibitions, it’s been such a pleasure to work together.

‘And so maybe our shared time navigating hope has not been with a compass or a clearly defined map, but rather as two people (old guys ha ha) scrounging through notions, feelings, limits, and so on, but holding fast an aim toward hope, rather than generating yet another ‘well-executed work of mourning for being’.’
- PB in conversations with IHS.

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‘Internarratives of Hope, Stay away from nothing’ - October 1-24 @ MADA Gallery.

ISABELLA: In our first iteration, Paul, we established the inter-narrative as a navigational tool for the near horizon, a way of anchoring ourselves within a stretched out present. I saw this play out as a dynamic and relational constellation of the sky, the earth, and immediate somatic intimacies. For this second show, our curatorial posture shifts. It is less about establishing those grounding, protective coordinates, and more about navigating the volatile, forked paths of decision making that occur when those very relations are thrust into conflict.
 When system breakdown strips us of consensus, navigation becomes a radical, conflictual act of decision making. My question is about the shift from anchoring to steering: How do we steer forward when the very signs and lodestars we rely on are caught in a differend? If there is no consensus on what a liveable future looks like, how does, or can, curatorial pathfinding avoid becoming just another forced direction?

PAUL: When we first started working together on this residency, I felt that we already had a shared toolbox of concepts around relation and time. I don’t mean to say that our perspectives and ideas are in total alignment, but rather that the theme of hope, one quite foreign and troubling to me, could be worked through coherently between the two of us.

Hope, to me, seems like a genre of being always in dispute, yet when taken this way, does not simply continue the nihilistic pursuit of retelling ‘whether bitterly or gladly, the great narrative of the end of great narratives.’ And so maybe our shared time navigating hope has not been with a compass or a clearly defined map, but rather as two people scrounging through notions, feelings, limits, and so on, but holding fast an aim toward hope. It seeds a map of possibility and potential. No promises, no futures, but mole tunnels through the garbage heap.

Excerpt from a conversation between Paul Boyé & Isabella Hone-Saunders. Read the conversation in full in our catalogue, designed by Dennis Grauel.

George Watson

Tamara Marrington

Tamara Marrington & Aleks Danko

Liv Moriar

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@vicuniwgtn Senior English lecturer Adam Grener discusses the links between Jane Austen's 𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 & 𝘚𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 and George Watson's 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 📖 - at the gallery until Sunday 11 October 📅

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Images: Installation view, George Watson, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦, 2026, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. Photos: Ted Whitaker.

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#janeausten #georgewatson #nzart #nzartist #wellington

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Cover story styling for @currentartmagazine Issue 3 featuring @excgrl 🤍🪽

Photography @scotthardy.work
HMUA @aneracreative @anna_na_style @anselxustyle
Styling @natashaovely
Editor @uberbeige
Accompanying text by Anisha Sankar
Featuring George Watson who is represented by @roberthealdgallery

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Hair and makeup for @currentartmagazine ISSUE 03

Featured artist - George Watson (@excgrl)
Photographer - Scott Hardy (@scotthardy.work),
Stylist - Natasha Ovely (@natashaovely)
Hair - Ansel Xu at An Era Creative (@anselxustyle @aneracreative)
Makeup - Anna Guo at An Era Creative (@anna_na_style @aneracreative)

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ISSUE 03 now live on our website — orders shipping today!

Cover two features Nephi Tupaea’s (@nephi_tupaea) artwork 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘚𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘰 ☆

Tupaea’s exhibition, 𝘼𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, is on view now at Tim Melville in Tāmaki Makaurau (@timmelvillegallery)

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ISSUE 03 now live on our website — orders shipping today!

Cover one features artist George Watson (@excgrl) ☆ photographed by Scott Hardy (@scotthardy.work), styled by Natasha Ovely (@natashaovely) and Becky Hemus (@uberbeige) — wearing a Masami dress (@masami_clothing) from The Shelter (@theshelternz) — with hair and makeup by An Era Creative (@aneracreative)

Watson’s exhibition, 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚, is on view now at Adam Art Gallery Te Pataka Toi in Pōneke (@adamartgallery) — and issue 03 features an essay by Anisha Sankar (@ani_mality) ❤️❤️

She is represented by Robert Heald (@roberthealdgallery) in Pōneke

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We (Isabella Hone-Saunders & Paul Boyé) are excited to announce our second exhibition as a part of the MADA Curator-in-Residence Program. Thank you to Melanie Flynn, the MADA faculty and MUMA for the opportunity to collaborate on these exhibitions.

‘Inter-narratives of hope: Stay away from nothing’ will open October 1 at MADA Gallery, featuring works by Aleks Danko, Danielle Freakley, George Watson, Liv Moriarty, Michael Cook, P. Staff (c/o Triple Canopy) and Tamara Marrington.

For this second exhibition, the nature of the social - how we hope together - is the threshold for contingent perspectives on and against hope. On this threshold, directions are dowsed with unexpected compasses. Through several works and an ongoing instructional performance by Danielle Freakley, conflict and agreement are taken as navigational principles, complicating further into questions on responsibility and causation. The diagram is taken as an interface, but also as a means to record growth, frustration; lapses and voids.

‘Stay away from nothing’ stages several systems of pathos, plotted on nodes of cause. Through eventual consensus grows a garden-path of effects.

Please join us at MADA Gallery from 6pm, Thursday October 1 for the opening of this exhibition. The exhibition will run until October 24.

Design and catalogue by Dennis Grauel, Illustrations by Liv Moriarty

Supported by Creative Australia and the WA Government (CITS).

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To mark 20 years of the Parehuia Residency, we invited alumni to create posters for this occasion.

All posters are A2, digitally printed in four colours on 200gsm Arcoprint, and will be available to purchase at the Aotearoa Art Fair and from our e-store.

Participating artists:
Anoushka Akel, Dan Arps, Kathy Barry, Emma Fitts, Tanu Gago, Regan Gentry, Jess Johnson, Ava Seymour, Sarah Smuts-Kennedy, Jim Speers, Daniel Malone, Andrew McLeod, Neke Moa, Sefton Rani, Tim Wagg, George Watson and Benjamin Work

Join us at @aotearoaartfair 2026
30 April – 3 May, Viaduct Events Centre – Level 2

We look forward to seeing you there.

#mccahonhouse #parehuia #aotearoaartfair

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🌟 @taurangaartgallery has annouced Tūranganui-a-Kiwa, Gisborne, artist George Watson has been awarded the 2026 Jann Medlicott Award for Contemporary Art.⁠
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The $30,000 prize, facilitated by Toi Tauranga Art Gallery and generously supported by the @acornfoundationnz, recognises a single or body of work that has made a critical impact within the field of contemporary art in the last 12 months. 2026 marks the inaugural presentation of this significant new national art award.⁠
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Watson (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Mutunga) was awarded for her exhibition 𝘈𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘢, presented at Wellington's Robert Heald Gallery in 7 to 30 August 2025. It explored invasion and ancestry using symbolic materials such as wool bale sacking, pins, cultivated sea pearls and paraffin wax. As part of the prize, she will present an exhibition at Toi Tauranga Art Gallery, opening in November 2026.⁠
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The judges were Andrew Clifford, Director of @sarjeantgallery in Whanganui; Sophie Davis, Director of @hastingsartgallery; and John Vea, an Ōtautahi Christchurch academic and artist.⁠
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Congratulations @excgrl⁠
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Image: George Watson, photography by Tink Lockett.

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Tūranganui-a-Kiwa, Gisborne, artist George Watson (@excgrl) has been awarded the 2026 Jann Medlicott Award for Contemporary Art.⁠
⁠
The $30,000 prize, facilitated by Toi Tauranga Art Gallery and generously supported by the Acorn Foundation (@acornfoundationnz), recognises a single or body of work that has made a critical impact within the field of contemporary art in the last 12 months. 2026 marks the inaugural presentation of this significant new national art award.⁠
⁠
Watson (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Mutunga) was awarded for her exhibition 𝘈𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘢, presented at Wellington's Robert Heald Gallery in 7 to 30 August 2025. It explored invasion and ancestry using symbolic materials such as wool bale sacking, pins, cultivated sea pearls and paraffin wax. As part of the prize, she will present an exhibition at Toi Tauranga Art Gallery, opening in November 2026.⁠
⁠
The judges were Andrew Clifford, Director of Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery in Whanganui; Sophie Davis, Director of Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga Hastings Art Gallery; and John Vea, an Ōtautahi Christchurch academic and artist.⁠
⁠
George Watson says, “I am incredibly honoured to be awarded the first iteration of the Jann Medlicott award for Contemporary Art. It has been a privilege to get to meet some of Jann’s close friends and hear more about her love of, and ongoing support for, the arts in Aotearoa. ⁠
⁠
This generous award will undoubtedly have a hugely positive impact on my work and the development of my artistic practice as well as the practices of future recipients”. ⁠
⁠
(1) George Watson, photography by Tink Lockett. (2) 𝘈𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘢, installation view, courtesy the artist and Robert Heald Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, photography by Russell Kleyn. (3) 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 (detail), 2025, courtesy the artist and Robert Heald Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, photography by Russell Kleyn. ⁠

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Current monthly news featuring murals, appointments, re-stagings and renewed locations ★

𝙸𝚖𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚜:
𝙴𝚍 𝙱𝚊𝚝𝚜 𝚖𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕
𝙴𝚍 𝙱𝚊𝚝𝚜 𝚖𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚕 (𝚒𝚗 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜)
𝚃𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚒 𝙼𝚞𝚝𝚊𝚖𝚋𝚞, 𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚝 𝚋𝚢 𝙰𝚓𝚊𝚖𝚞 𝚇
𝙳𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚎 𝙱𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚠𝚊𝚒𝚝𝚎-𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚢, 𝙸 𝙽𝙴𝙴𝙳 𝚈𝙾𝚄, 𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝙰𝚛𝚝𝚜 𝙲𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚎, 𝙳𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚗. 𝙲𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚜: 𝚃𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚒 𝙼𝚞𝚝𝚊𝚖𝚋𝚞 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚂𝚊𝚛𝚊 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚞. 𝙿𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚘: 𝙻𝚘𝚞𝚒𝚜 𝙷𝚊𝚞𝚐𝚑
𝙽𝚘𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚎 𝙽𝚊𝚜𝚑-𝙰𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚗, 𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟻. 𝙸𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠, 𝚂𝙲𝙰𝙿𝙴 𝙿𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚌 𝙰𝚛𝚝
𝙶𝚎𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚎 𝚆𝚊𝚝𝚜𝚘𝚗, 𝙳𝚘𝚌𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟻. 𝙸𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠, 𝚂𝙲𝙰𝙿𝙴 𝙿𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚌 𝙰𝚛𝚝
𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝 𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚌 𝚜𝚔𝚎𝚝𝚌𝚑
𝙿𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚑 𝚘𝚏 𝚁𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝 𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎
𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙳𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚙𝚎𝚛, 𝚄𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚍 (𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚛𝚜), 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟾
𝙹𝚞𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚗 𝙳𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚙𝚎𝚛, 𝙰𝚛𝚝𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖, 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟸
𝙲𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚐𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝙵𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚝𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝟻𝟶 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚃𝚎 𝚃𝚞𝚑𝚒. 𝙿𝚑𝚘𝚝𝚘: 𝙹𝚒𝚗𝚔𝚒 𝙲𝚊𝚖𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚘, 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚜𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚃𝚎 𝚃𝚞𝚑𝚒
𝟻𝟶 𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝙾𝚗. 𝚃𝚎 𝚃𝚞𝚑𝚒, 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠, 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟻
𝙱𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝙰𝚙𝚙𝚕𝚎, 𝙰 𝙷𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚍, 𝚂𝚞𝚎 𝙲𝚛𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝙶𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛𝚢, 𝙰𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍, 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟻
𝙰𝚟𝚊 𝚂𝚎𝚢𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚛, 𝙼𝚒𝚜𝚜 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍, 𝚃𝙴𝚂𝚃𝚂𝚃𝚁𝙸𝙿, 𝙰𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍, 𝟷𝟿𝟿𝟼

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