In the spirit of The Living Room, an Objectspace Ōtautahi annual exhibition project that celebrated the domestic nature of the Sir Miles Warren Gallery, this year we venture out to the auxiliary living room – the garden.

Ōtautahi Christchurch’s title of the ‘garden city’ (held proudly for over 100 years) makes it the perfect location to explore the garden as a source of creativity, experimentation, communion, and nourishment.

Through a host of objects made in reverence to the natural world, Pleasure Garden explores the joys of being outside, whether within the manicured constraints of prim courtyards, hand-tended market gardens, or overgrown and rambling backyards. Gardens tell us much about people’s relationships to place and nature, and give us opportunities to cultivate intimate connections with our immediate environments.

Curated by Zoe Black and Jordan Davey-Emms, Pleasure Garden assembles artists who are called to the whenua for inspiration, including new commissions from Emma Wallbanks, Amelia Fagence and Mitchell Coll from Fabric Architecture, alongside a lush crop of artists from across the motu including Neke Moa, Lizzy Leckie, Turumeke Harrington, Georgia Tikaputini Douglas Hood, Georgia Arnold, Cindy Huang, and Vanessa Arthur.

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Our gratitude to the Boosted supporters who have made this exhibition possible, and to match-funders Rātā Foundation, Creative New Zealand and Christchurch City Council. Thanks to:

Ros Burdon, Ambitec, Julianne Liebeck, Roberts Gray Architects, Mahi Toi, Alison O'Connell, Janet Blackman, Angela Dobbs, Anna Ryan, Emma + Tessa, Judith Knibb, Anke Richter, Rebecca Stewart, Kate Burtt, Heritage Works, Pip Voller, Annie Pokel, Morrin Rout, Kristin Stephenson, Alice Lines, Emma Wallbanks, Jamie Teheuheu, Kent Gardner, Jenny Harper, Jess Brown, Margaret Forward, Paul Roper-Gee, Holly Neave, Amelia Fagence, Mel Haskell, Charlotte Bell, Lydia Hannah Thomas, Wendy Clarke, Abigail Hau, Sharnaé Storm, Hayley Walmsley, and all those who wished to remain anonymous.