Dreaming from afar

Dreaming from afar brings together three artists from Aotearoa and overseas whose distinctive approach to painting depicts places both visited and imagined. From Seville’s customary Easter processions to the mythologised bathhouses of Orientalism and the communal mattress room of the wharenui, each of the artists probe what it means to encounter a place of tradition or history through their own contemporaneity.

The exhibition showcases major new commissions in which the artists push the boundaries of their practice through bold thematic and material experimentation, including two site-specific artworks by Gian Manik informed by the Italian Renaissance tradition of fresco painting.

Touching on ideas of Orientalism, queerness, religion and whakapapa, Dreaming from afar considers the complexities of history and nostalgia through a painterly environment that blends the physical with the imaginary.

This exhibition is presented in association with Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival 2026.

brunelle dias (India, Aotearoa New Zealand) is a painter whose diaristic practice dwells on the intimacies of domestic and everyday scenes. Interested in the relationship between figure and ground, she often portrays life as a first-generation immigrant to Aotearoa and explores the metaphysical nature of her environment through the fluid nature of paint. dias holds her Master of Visual Arts from AUT, School of Art and Design. Recent exhibitions include A Moment to Hold (The Arts House Trust, 2025), aaj kal (CoCA, 2024), yahaan (Corban’s Estate Art Centre, 2024), kiss taraf (The Art Paper Office, 2023), soft protest (Play_Station, 2023) and the way things are (The Physics Room, 2022). dias was a finalist in the Eden Arts’ Art School Award and her work is held in the Auckland University of Technology Art Collection.

Gian Manik (Australia) lives and works in Naarm Melbourne, Australia. A queer artist of Dutch and Indian heritage, he often explores various tropes preserved in historical painting, including Orientalism and queer representation throughout art history. Manik holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) from Curtin University and a Master of Fine Arts from Monash University. He has exhibited across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, including at The Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2025), The Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2025), Gertrude Glasshouse, Melbourne (2024), Sumer, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (2024) and The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne (2022). Gian’s work is held in various public collections including The Art Gallery of Western Australia, City of Darrebin and ArtBank Sydney.

Tyrone Te Waa (Ngāti Tūwharetoa) is a Taumaranui-based artist whose practice is informed by autobiographical and ancestral reflections and queer histories in Aotearoa New Zealand. Primarily known for bound and scaffolded fabric sculptures, he works across drawing, painting, felting and wearable objects. Te Waa holds a Master of Creative Practice from Unitec Institute of Technology Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka and in 2022 he received an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Te Tumu Toi Springboard Award. Recent exhibitions include How to Make a Home (Objectspace, 2024), Aotearoa Contemporary (Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2024), Te Rūma Moenga / The Mattress Room (Memory Foam) (Casula Powerhouse, 2024), WīWī WāWā (Anna Miles Gallery, 2023) and Whetūrangitia/Made As Stars (Dowse Art Museum, 2022).