Ioana Gordon-Smith is Curator | Kaitiaki Whakaaturanga at Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery.  Te Uru is a recently refurbished contemporary arts space situated in West Auckland. Prior to this role, she was the head Curator at Objectspace, a Ponsonby based gallery dedicated to exhibiting emerging and established craft, design and applied arts. In 2013, Gordon-Smith was also the inaugural Education Intern for Artspace, New Zealand; a role which came about through a partnership between Tautai Contemporary Arts Trust and Artspace to increase the accessibility of Artspace to its nearby Pacific audiences.

In addition to her curatorial work, Ioana also contributes regularly to a number of catalogues as well as magazines and journals, such as Art New Zealand, Art News New Zealand and un Magazine. She was the New Zealand-based project manager for the inaugural Honolulu Biennial 2017 and has been a regular Pasifika correspondent for Radio New Zealand.

She plays an important role in community arts as a trustee for the community-focused art collective Whau The People. Though her areas of interest span a broad range of disciplines, what is consistent throughout is a curatorial process that prioritises a close working relationship with artists and arts communities.

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Here’s a cross section of what I’ve been working on lately:

• From the margins to the mainstream: the Pacific Sisters at Te Papa – Pantograph Punch
• Benjamin Work: Whenua Fonua ‘Enua – review in Art New Zealand
• A profile piece on artist Linda T, looking at the importance of koha and indigenous methodology in her practice, was recently published on Pantograph Punch.
• I’m also researching the influence of pioneering Maori filmmakers Barry Barclay and Merata Mita, with a group exhibition planned for September 2018. If you’re unfamiliar with their work, NZonscreen has quite a bit of footage – you should check it out!