KATE VAN DER DRIFT
Kate van der Drift’s research has primarily been situated in the land and waters of the Hauraki Plains. An enquiry that began over five years ago as an indexical photographic investigation of the transformed whenua and fragility of the remnant wetland. Her practice has developed into a process-led approach that speculates on a more-than-representational engagement with the social and ecological histories and potential future of the Hauraki Plains. Working with cameraless processes, sound recording and video as field notes.
Born in Kirikiriroa/Hamilton, in 1985, van der Drift studied at the University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts, graduating with a Master of Fine Arts in 2022. Recent exhibitions include a solo show at Pah Homestead called Listening to a Wet Land (2023) comprising video work and a series of river exposures and Waning Gibbous to Waxing Gibbous (2023) at Jhana Millers Gallery in Wellington. Kate won the Uxbridge Malcolm Smith Gallery Art and Ecology Award in 2020 and the Stoneleigh New Zealand Artist Grant to make new work for the Melbourne Art Fair in 2018. In 2022 Kate worked with a small group of artists to self-publish a collaborative book of art essays called From Things Flow following a group exhibition at RM Gallery in 2021. Kate is represented by Sanderson Contemporary and lives between Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland and Whāingaroa/Raglan.
