Ioana Gordon-Smith

Curator, writer and editor working across contemporary art, Moana arts and exhibition-making in Aotearoa. This website archives selected curatorial projects, publications and talks.

RECENT CURATORIAL PROJECTS

IHI
2026
Pātaka Art+Museum
Tīpurepure ‘Au Vaine
2025
Pātaka Art+Museum
Jasmine Togo-Brisby: ungeographic
2025
Pātaka Art+Museum
Rangirua
Neke Moa + Rowan Panther
Gabriella Amodeo and Martin Thompson
2024
Pātaka Art+Musem
Maioha Kara: In Good Relation
2024
Pātaka Art+Musem
Paraikete Threads
2024
Pātaka Art+Musem

Ahilapalapa Rands: Across the Sea
2024
Pātaka Art+Museum
Manuha‘apai Vaeatangitau: Koe Tau’atāina o e Leitī | The Freedom / Emancipation of the Leitī
2023
Pātaka Art+Museum

INTERNATIONAL CURATORIAL PROJECTS

Yuki Kihara: Paradise Camp
New Zealand Pavilion
59th Venice Biennale 2022
naadohbii: to draw water
Winnipeg Art Gallery, Canada
Melbourne Museum, Australia
Pātaka Art+Museum, Aotearoa

SELECT CURATORIAL PROJECTS

Mischief Makers
Layne Waerea // Suzanne Tamaki // Christopher Ulutupu and Elisabeth Pointon // Turumeke Harrington // Jessicoco Hansell // Natalie Robertson, Hemi Macgregor and Danny Butt
Pātaka Art + Museum, 2021
Jasmine Togo-Brisby: If these walls could talk, they’d tell you my name
Courtenay Place Park Lightboxes, 2019 – 2020
The future of our kids
Torika Bolatagici and Jane Chang Mi
Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, 2019
twenty-four-seven
Natasha Matila-Smith, Raqs Media Collective, Ane Hjort Guttu and Daisuke Kosugi
Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, 2019
names held in our mouths
Sosefina Andy, Nikau Hindin, Louisa Humphry, Wikuki Kingi, Pacifica Mamas, Kaetaeta Watson, The Veiqia Project.
Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, 2019
From the Shore
Tracey Moffatt, Tanu Gago, Rob George, Nova Paul, Lisa Reihana and Tuafale Tanoa’i aka Linda T
Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, 2019; Pātata Art + Museum, 2019; Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 2020
Pocket Histories
Vita Cochran, Imogen Taylor and Isobel Thom 
Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, 2018; The Dowse Art Museum, 2019
Asia Pacific Century: Part II
Bepen Bhana, Max Harris, Kerry Ann Lee, Lana Lopesi, Local Time, Ahilapalapa Rands, Balamohan Shingade, and Melinda Webber
Co-Curated with Emma Ng
Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, 2017
Cushla Donaldson: The Fairy Falls
Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, 2017
On Repeat: the disruptive copy
Rachel Bell, Julian Dashper, Michael Parekowhai, SUPERFLEX, Daniel Malone and Bob van der wal, and Chris McBride/Wellington Media Collective
Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, 2016
Janet Lilo: Status Update
Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, 2016
James Cousins: Restless Idiom
Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, 2015
The Asia Pacific Century
Co-curated by Emma Ng and Ioana Gordon-Smith and led by Bepen Bhana, Peter Brunt, Kerry Ann Lee, Local Time, Lana Lopesi, Ahilapalapa Rands, Balamohan Shingade, Melinda Webber and Anna-Marie White
Enjoy Public Art Gallery, 2016

Making Visible
Lonnie Hutchinson | Toa Tahi Taihia | Janet Lilo | John Vea | Talia Smith | Salome Tanuvasa 
Franklin Arts Centre, 2015
Tau Tupua: The Spirits
Rob George//Toa Tahi Taihia//Vela Manusaute
Fresh Gallery Otara, 2014
A Sense of Place
Laurence Aberhart / Michelle Beattie / Robert Ellis / Scott Hamilton, Paul Janman and Ian Powell / Thomas Hinton / Anita Jacobsen / Jeremy Leatinu’u / Robin Morrison / Salome Tanuvasa / Michael Tubberty / Siobhan van Heerden / James Wylie and David Ed Cooper 
Curated with Talia Smith
Papakura Art Gallery, 2014
More than we know: a performance series
Gus Fisher Gallery, 2013