Bumps in the Road – Tahlia King
In Bumps in the Road, Tahlia King’s latest body of work, the artist reflects back to us the contemporary crises facing Aotearoa. In 2026, the cost of groceries, fuel and the state of local infrastructure and the climate have deep ongoing effects on people, situations that King witnesses everyday, the barbs felt more sharply by those living in the artists’ eastern Christchurch neighbourhood. In this politically saturated moment in time, when feeding oneself and getting to work have become acts under threat, King asks us to pause and consider where we are now as individuals and as a society, that these things are more than just ‘bumps in the road’.
King challenges traditional representations of the Aotearoa landscape in art, choosing images closer to home which document the realities of urban life in Ōtautahi Christchurch. Based on photographs, King abstracts her scenes, making careful decisions on thread placement, colour and density. Stripped of immediate recognisability, King invites us to think, these abandoned shopping trolleys, petrol stations and flooded streets could be your local life. As a viewer what do these scenes say about you? To you?
Intriguingly layered (wool, paint, acrylic, wall), these works can be looked through and into, even back onto ourselves. There is a shifting kind of focus, occasionally conflicting or suspenseful, across each surface. That tension is echoed in King’s choice of materials. Mirror-like acrylic plastic sheets and soft wool threads both carry connotations – one of industry and chemical process, the other of home comforts and agriculture. Danger and safety present in the same moment.
However, as is common in King’s work, there is an aspect of hopefulness. King approaches the crisis they depict from a Māori understanding of dark times as the precursor of potential:“It’s when the shadows are starting to form around you, you’re starting to get an idea of what’s happening and then the morning breaks. Life starts again, everything comes together.” – Tahlia King, 2026
Ōtautahi Christchurch artist Tahlia King (Kāi Tahu and Ngāti Maniapoto) uses her art making to examine contemporary life and the impact of current socio-political structures. In her work she applies traditional techniques of weaving to contemporary art practice and concepts pertaining to geometrical forms and balance using abstraction to carry narrative and make emotional connections through line, colour and stitch.
