A ongoing series of material investigations exhibited in various group shows.
A moment in (deep) time by Nina Dyer:
A text in response to Ōnepu Shifting Sands / Shifting Time, a group exhibition at the Franklin Arts Centre, Papakura, April 2025.
Excerpt:
“Equally drawn to what transpires when control is surrendered to the elements, Nat Tozer placed three stretched canvases within the dunes of the Port. Exposed to the intricate network of roots and shifting soils, the canvases deformed and reformed, creating an unmediated record of the underground. This process acquainted Tozer with the undergrowth, the unknown, through embodied observation. In bypassing conventional Western knowledge systems–data collection, laboratory analysis–Tozer instead fosters an open-ended and subjective exchange of material qualities, their mauri, or life-force.”
These Vessels by Hope Wilson
A text in response to Unifying Threads, a mothermother group exhibition at Te Atamira, Tāhuna Queenstown, May 2025
Excerpt:
“Time is also the maker and the material of Nat Tozer’s work, Observations Of The Ground Through Canvas (on-going). These once-buried canvases map their participation in a life cycle beyond white gallery walls. Arrested mid-decomposition, they attest to the continual existence of an underground conversation between soil, microbes, insects, warmth, and root systems. This chattering, cyclical dialogue continues below our feet. In one late afternoon message, Tori Beeche compares the form of the work to an altarpiece and my memory invokes Mary, Untier of Knots, a once obscure Baroque painting of the Virgin Mary unknotting a long white ribbon. In my mind, she ties, unties, and re-ties the ribbon as it gradually frays and softens to the same tone as Tozer’s unearthed artifacts”
ABSTRAXT ABSTRAXT Exhibition Catalogue
A symposium held on the occasion of ABSTRAXT ABSTRAXT, a group exhibition at Northart Public Art Gallery, Northcote
The ABSTRAXT ABSTRAXT exhibition presented a dual gallery survey, bringing together 36 artists who offered unique perspectives on abstraction rooted in Aotearoa’s cultural and aesthetic landscapes. Curated by Jessica Pearless, with a vision to illuminate the current dynamism of abstraction, reflecting on its historical significance while pushing boundaries towards future possibilities, the exhibition expanded on Jessica’s twenty+ years research and practice in this area to date. The premise of the ABSTRAXT ABSTRAXT exhibition at NORTHART was to create an exhibition that celebrates the depth of practice inherent in Aotearoa artists’ work today from a feminine perspective.
Excerpt:
“Nat’s suite of linen, are haunting surfaces of patina and decay that remind us that the past can be sensed physically”. Julia Waite