Hawke's Bay local Inga Fillary brings her first solo art installation home, saying it feels like a full circle experience. Photo / Supplied
Hawke's Bay local Inga Fillary brings her first solo art installation home, saying it feels like a full circle experience. Photo / Supplied
An emerging artist has created an art installation like no other, which Inga Fillary hopes will unsettle her audience.
Over the past week Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga, the Hastings City Art Gallery, has been home to the artist's first major solo exhibition.
The showcase is a threatened and threatening space that presents a metaphor Inga said she hopes will be unsettling and invite the audience to venture bravely into the speculative unknown.
'What's the Matter' is the name of the installation of a small, burnt-out room that explores the philosophical theories of speculative realism through the displacement of materials.
The exhibition may sound negative, yet it was intended to represent a celebration of humanity as a species on the decline and the possibility of something beyond.
The young artist said she is "so thrilled" to show Hawke's Bay what she described as the culmination of three years of work for her Masters at Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland.
"It has never been seen before, so it's an absolute pleasure and privilege to finally show 'What's the Matter'.
"Also I grew up here and went to NGHS and Colenso, so I guess it's me coming full circle," the artist said.
Inga Fillary's 'What's the Matter' exhibition, to be on show at the Hastings City Art Gallery till June 6 2022. Photo / Supplied
"I hope that this installation brings something new to the gallery. Because you physically enter the space it has a visceral effect that you can feel it with your whole body, which is what I mean about hoping to unsettle the audience."
Not surprisingly, the Covid-19 pandemic was a catalyst for the installation.
"It's been both a scourge and an inspiration," Inga said. "This work is rooted in pessimism, but I view it as a positive celebration of a species on the decline.
"It shines a light on the fact that the world is far greater than what we are equipped to perceive. There is vitality and an unreachable aspect to the universe beyond what we can experience."
She said it was a hopeful body of work that asked us to consider our insignificance as a good thing – the universe will continue to exist, whether humans survive or not.
A snapshot of what Hawke's Bay art lovers can expect to see when they visit the young artist's 'unsettling' installation. Photo / Supplied
Te Whare Toi exhibitions curator Clayton Gibson said the show offered the community a chance to support an artist with local connections as she forges the early stages of her career.
Despite its appearance, Inga explained that to her the installation is highly hopeful and that pessimism in the right circumstances can be a beautiful thing because it can help us look beyond ourselves.
"I mean, if we're going to hell in a handbasket maybe we can leave behind the unimportant aspects of being."
Inga Fillary's 'What's the Matter' exhibition is on show at the Hastings City Art Gallery till June 6 2022.
Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga - Hastings City Art Gallery is open from 10am till 4.30pm, Monday to Saturday, and from 1pm till 4pm on Sundays. My Vaccine Pass is required.
