WHAT THEY DIDN'T TEACH ME AT SCHOOL: RICHARD LEWER - THE WAIKATO WARS

What they didn't teach me in school: Richard Lewer - The Waikato Wars

For his exhibition Lewer has created a new body of work resulting from his own personal journey learning about the Waikato Wars.

Lewer began researching and making this body of work because he, like many New Zealanders wasn’t taught about the New Zealand Wars when he went through school in Hamilton in the 1980’s. He feels it’s important for all New Zealanders to acknowledge and digest what happened, to help better understand our complex and disputed colonial history. Lewer thinks this will be the most important artwork series he will ever create, as he develops an understanding of the history of the place he comes from and his place within and resulting from that history.

This exhibition is a part of the Aotearoa Festival of the Arts.

‘What they didn’t teach me at school: Richard Lewer -The Waikato Wars’ is on display at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery (Te Pūkenga Whakaata), Wellington, New Zealand from 22 February to 12 May 2024.