In the Sheaff Gallery this month, Wesley John Fourie has created a suite of works that explore and pay honour to the beauty of flora found in our inland valleys, following the routes of the rivers and streams of Te Urewera. I followed you into the sea celebrates the tremendous biodiversity of our local waterways through Wesley’s distinctively tender and emotive craft-as-fine-art style.

The four pieces of work within the exhibition act as shrines to the original physical bodies in their natural environment, bringing the discussion of conservation into a fine art context from a tauiwi perspective.

Wesley’s practice often explores themes of nature, spirituality, and sexuality through use of textiles, and these often manifest as large scale “soft sculptures”. They are interested in exploring scale as a lens through which to process data, creating large yet ephemeral textile installations which explore themes of love, loss, and queer sexuality, alongside installations of native flora. Wesley spends a lot of time seeking out the natural wild areas of Aotearoa with which they find a spiritual affinity.

Their work is held in private collections across Aotearoa New Zealand, India, Japan, Nepal, Germany, Italy, United States of America, and Australia as well as public institutions across Aotearoa New Zealand.