Nina Oberg Humphries: Collision

5–26 April
Bergman Gallery | Auckland
3/582 Karangahape Road
(Entrance via 2 Newton Road)

Opening Saturday 5 April, 12–4pm, all welcome.

Collision is an exploration of Pacific identity in flux—where tradition intersects with contemporary material culture, and ancestral narratives are reassembled through unexpected forms. In this body of work, Nina Oberg Humphries examines the impact of colonialism, tourism, and globalisation on Cook Islands cultural expression, weaving together elements that both preserve and disrupt notions of authenticity. Drawing from a diverse range of materials—natural and synthetic, sacred and commercial— Collision observes the transformation of cultural symbols over time. Wooden carvings, once imbued with spiritual significance, now appear as souvenir trinkets. Floral motifs, once hand-dyed and woven, are replicated in plastic and polyester. Through this convergence, Oberg Humphries invites us to consider what is lost, what is reinterpreted, and what remains. As a New Zealand-born Cook Islander, the artist navigates a space of negotiation—between inherited knowledge and contemporary realities, between reverence and reinvention. These works challenge binary understandings of tradition and modernity, instead presenting culture as a dynamic, evolving force. By repurposing materials associated with mass production and commodification, Collision highlights the resilience of Pacific identity in the face of displacement and cultural dilution. This exhibition does not mourn the past, but rather confronts the tensions and possibilities that emerge when histories, influences, and materials collide.

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