Ilam Campus Gallery Student Series 2026

The Ilam Campus Gallery Student Series celebrates ambitious, research-led exhibitions developed by students from across the Ilam School of Fine Arts. Each year, the series provides an opportunity for students to realise substantial exhibition projects within a public gallery context, encouraging experimentation, collaboration and professional exhibition practice.

This year's selection process was exceptionally challenging. The standard of applications was remarkably high, with proposals demonstrating thoughtful research, compelling ideas and ambitious approaches to exhibition making. The four selected exhibitions stood out for the strength and clarity of their concepts, the ambition of their material and spatial thinking, and the distinctive programme they create together. At the same time, many other submissions were also of an exceptional standard, making the final decisions considerably more difficult than in previous years. The limited number of exhibition opportunities inevitably meant that a number of outstanding proposals could not be included.

Together, the selected exhibitions reflect the breadth of contemporary practice emerging from Ilam. Spanning whakapapa and cultural reconnection, the social and design history of Ōtautahi, contemporary experiences of media and womanhood, and experimental approaches to typography and language, the programme brings together projects that are conceptually rigorous, materially inventive and strongly engaged with audiences. While each exhibition is distinct in its concerns and methods, collectively they demonstrate the diversity, curiosity and critical ambition of contemporary Fine Arts practice at Ilam.

Exhibition schedule

Exhibition 1: De-Sir, Artists: Savanna Hunter, Chiquita Dean, Lucia Daamen- Shanahan

• Opening: 20th August (5 pm - 7pm)
• Artist Talk: 21st August (12pm - 1pm)

Exhibition 2: Consumption, Media, Womanhood, Artists: Vienna Rose Nunns, Neve Vangioni, Sophie Brown, Olivia Moore, Lourie Torr

• Opening: 10th September (5pm - 7pm)
• Artist Talk 11th September (12pm - 1pm)

Exhibition 3: No Kurawaka Tatou, Artists: George Atai French, Mia Ata Marama Anderson, George Brunton, Ana Krakosky

• Opening: 24th September (5pm - 7 pm)
• Artist Talk: 25th September (12pm - 1pm)

Exhibition 4: Super/Dairy, Artists: Lucy Lallemant, Jack Freeman, Emma Foung

• Opening: 8th October (5pm - 7pm)
• Artist Talk: 9th October (12 - 1pm)