Bio | Christopher Ulutupu
Born Wellington 1988
Lives and works in Wellington
“Christopher Ulutupu’s video/performance art practice explores ongoing themes around landscape, photography, and the construction of colonial narratives. Responding to early 1900’s landscape photography and ‘postcard’ tourism, his earlier work has looked at depictions of Pacific brown people, disseminated throughout the western world: images of Pacific people sitting under coconut trees made available for European consumption. His practice seeks to re-contextualise these stereotypes and re-imagine them through video and performance, offering new ways of exploring the effects of colonisation and diaspora.”
Heather Galbraith, 2018
Recent exhibitions include Lelia and Fitu (seven) as part of SCAPE Public Art 2018, Romantic Picturesque at the Hobiennale (Hobart, Tasmania 2017) and play_station gallery 2018, and Into The Arms Of My Coloniser, as part of The Tomorrow People, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington 2017.
Education
Master Of Fine Arts (Distinction), Massey University, Wellington, 2016
Bachelor Of Performance Design, Massey University and Toi Whakaari Wellington
Selected exhibitions
2019
Lelia, Our Sea of Islands, Nu Space, Chengdu, China
More than all the oceans between us, Art Space, Sydney
Lelia, The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Oberhausen, Germany
Lelia, Auckland Live Digital Stage, Aotea Square, Auckland
Manaia Folinga, Auckland Art Fair, Jhana Millers
Dreaming of Lulu, Enjoy Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand
2018
Lelia and Fitu (Seven), SCAPE Public Art Season 2018, Christchurch, New Zealand
Tulisi, Australian National University Gallery, Canberra, Australia
Into The Arms Of My Coloniser (online), Recess, Australia
The Romantic Picturesque, play_station gallery, Wellington
2017
The Romantic Picturesque, Hobiennale, Tasmania, Australia
OFFSTAGE 8, Artspace Gallery, Auckland
Get The Picture, Blakdot Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
Cold Islanders, Waikato Museum, Hamilton
Tomorrow People, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington
Ladies, Circuit Mason’s Screen Project, Wellington
2016
National Contemporary Art Award Exhibition, Waikato Museum, Hamilton
Window Exhibition Space Siapo Cinema: Nga Taonga Sound & Vision, Wellington
Awards
National Contemporary Art Award Nominee, 2016
MOA Award Nominee for Best Art Direction, 2011
Qantas film awards - Best Technical Team For a Short Film, 2009
Reviews/essays
Issuu, June 2018, Christopher Ulutupu
Eye Contact, In Whose Eyes? Jessica Hubbard, 2018
The Unmissables: Four Exhibitions to see in February, Pantograph Punch, 2018
Christopher Ulutupu: The Romantic Picturesque Hobeinnale 2017, Thomas Capogreco, Fine Print Magazine
Hobiennale: Surface World and the Romantic Picturesque, Art and Australia, Miriam McGarry, 2017