Te Puna Whakarākei:
Jewellery as Statement

ON NOW

What we choose to drape around our necks or pin to our lapels can shout as loudly as a protest placard. Some of these adornments challenge, others inspire, and others ask us to fight for a different future.

Te Puna Whakarākei: Jewellery as Statement is an exhibition that positions contemporary jewellery as a vital and responsive craft practice that engages with defining issues of our time.

This exhibition features a range of contemporary jewellery pieces from the Museum’s applied arts collection, including work from local and international makers. These artists use jewellery as more than decoration and consider how adornment can engage with challenging conversations; protest, feminism, climate change, and more. Many works elevate Indigenous materials, craft traditions and motifs; others push back against extractive practices by embracing alternative or low-impact processes. These works speak far beyond their small size.

Te Puna Whakarākei: Jewellery as Statement explores how the jewellery draws on multiple histories through material, form and technique, and how contemporary jewellery can reimagine the future.