Benjamin Work
Ha’a Lātūhifo / Shetland / Ayr
b. 1979, Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland
Benjamin Work is an artist, Tāmaki Makaurau-born and raised, with Tongan and Scottish heritage. Work’s evolution exemplifies the new trajectories of artists reared on American sub/pop culture, while also explicitly exploring the complexities of both cultural institutions and the Moana Oceania diaspora. Drawing on his Tongan heritage, Work has pushed his art in new directions over the last decade. Inspired by his research throughout museums across the globe; that house Tongan iconography, found on cultural treasures such as ‘akau tau (war clubs), his refined, graphic paintings have sought to find new spaces and ways for audiences to engage with Tonga’s visual culture, both inside institutions and on the streets.
Selected Exhibitions
2023 Bodies of Water, Canterbury Museum, Christchurch [duo}
'Inasi - First Fruits, Māngere Arts Centre, Auckland [group]
Aotearoa Art Fair, Bergman Gallery, Auckland [group]
2022 To'a Motu - Bergman Gallery, Auckland [solo]
MOTUTAPU - Te Uru Contemporary, Auckland [duo]
Te Atuitanga – Between Our Cloak of Stars, Bergman Gallery, Auckland [group]
2021 The Most Dedicated – The Dowse Art Museum, Wellington
Hake Project, Canterbury Museum, Christchurch [solo]
Life After Death, Franklin Gallery, Auckland [group]
2020 TATOU 2 – Bergman Gallery, Cook Islands [group]
2019 Auckland Art Fair – Bergman Gallery [solo]
Art in the dark II, Me’a’ofa Gallery, Nuku’alofa, Tonga [group]
2018 Write it on the land, seal it on the heart, Te Tuhi Gallery, Auckland [solo]
MPA#1, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands [group]
2017 Whenua Fonua 'Enua, Malcolm Smith Gallery, Auckland [solo]
Return to Havaiki, Bergman Gallery, Rarotonga, Cook Islands [solo]
Post Graffiti Pacific, TSB Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland [group]
2016 The Glorious Children of Te Tumu, Corbans Art Estate, Auckland [solo]
For King and Country, Bergman Gallery, Cook Islands [solo]
The Glorious Children of Te Tumu - Salisbury Int. Arts Fest, England [solo]
METfriday, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, USA [group]
2015 Ma'ae Tu'i o e Fonua, Māngere Arts Centre, Auckland [solo]
PGP, AMbush Gallery, Sydney, Australia [group]
Toutoutā, Olivia Laita Gallery, Auckland [solo]
2014 I see red, I see red, I see red, FRESH Gallery Ōtara, Auckland [solo]
Tauhi Vā, FRESH Gallery Ōtara, Auckalnd [group]
2013 If These Walls Could Talk, TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre [group]
Serigraph show, Olivia Laita Gallery, Auckland [group]
Graffiato, The Storehouse, Taupo [group]
2012 No'o Fakataha , Mangere Arts Centre, Auckland [group]
What would Jim Do, FRESH Gallery Ōtara, Auckland [group]
2011 Primary Flight, ART Basel Miami, USA [group]
Urban Interventions
2011 Life line Mural , Auckland
2012 Bradley Lane Festival, Auckland
2014 Fort Lane Mural, Auckland Art Week
2015 Alfresco, Cross Street Mural, Auckland
2016 Spanish Harlem mural, Outreach programme, The MET NYC, USA
Aotea Squared, Auckland Arts Festival
2017 Graffiato Street Art Festival, Taupō
2020 Papaioea Mural Festival, Palmerston North
2021 The Most Dedicated, Street Art Festival, Lower Hutt
Selected Collections
Ministry of Foreign Affairs MFAT
Te Papa, Museum of New Zealand
TSB Wallace Arts Trust , Auckland
Auckland Museum, Tāmaki Paenga Hira
Welt Museum, Vienna, Austria
Artist in Residency
CMBB Para Site International Art Residency (PS IAR) 2019, Hong Kong
Publications
MOTUTAPU 2022 Published by RIM Books, ISBN 978-1-99-116520-6
Whenua Fonua 'Enua 2017 Published by RIM Books, ISBN 978-0-473-41566-2
Selected Commisions
2021 Motutapu II – Floor to wall mural, Canterbury Museum
Etu Pasifika Health Centre - Christchurch
The new Media Design School – Wynyard Quarter, Auckland City
2016 Tapa collaboration with Fauniteni o e Vai Mo’ui, Manukau Institute of Technology building, Auckland
2015 Tu’i Tonga, Tu’i Ha’atakalaua, Tu’i Kanokupolu – 2015, Auckland Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira
Speaking engagements
2019 Pacific Futures conference - Nuku’alofa, Tonga
2018 Postgrad Fine Arts - Whitecliffe School of Arts
2017 Undergrad Visual Arts - Unitec, Auckland
2016 METfriday, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, USA
Pacific Arts Association - Auckland Museum
2015 Pacific Arts Association - Museo De America, Madrid
Awards
2023 Finalist - National Contemporary Art Awards
2022 Runner up - Estuary Art and Ecology Award
2021 Finalist - Molly Morpeth Canaday Award