Lonnie Hutchinson's latest installation includes delicate paperworks, drawings and Black Pearl, a work using digital media. The installation also includes "The Drag Queen Entrance" (see picture) created by her friends in Auckland.

Informed by the rich cultural resources of her Polynesian heritage (Maori -Ngai Tahu, Samoan), Lonnie Hutchinson is a multi media artist who exhibits throughout Australasia and internationally. Drawing is central to her practise which is as much influenced by contemporary, advertising, hip hop, graffiti art and popular culture as by Polynesian aesthetics and art forms.

Lonnie's signature works comprise decorative cut-outs made from black builders' paper, which pay homage to Pacific women and their traditional arts. Maori Kowhaiwhai, koru motifs, Polynesian designs and frangipani forms alternate with 'pidgin' cut-outs or 'Scary Spice' like silhouettes. These decorations create a delicate interplay of space, light and shadow expressing socio/political/gender and cultural concerns.

In Black Pearl her cut-outs float before drawings of naked Polynesian women who were kept as sex slaves on pearl trading ships. Hutchinson films the scene through the eyes of the voyeur, confirming the perilous situation these captive women endured.

Paradise Lust at Mary Newton Gallery until 14 October
Lonnie Hutchinson's latest installation includes delicate paperworks, drawings and Black Pearl, a work using digital media. The installation also includes "The Drag Queen Entrance" (see picture) created by her friends in Auckland.

Informed by the rich cultural resources of her Polynesian heritage (Maori -Ngai Tahu, Samoan), Lonnie Hutchinson is a multi media artist who exhibits throughout Australasia and internationally. Drawing is central to her practise which is as much influenced by contemporary, advertising, hip hop, graffiti art and popular culture as by Polynesian aesthetics and art forms.

Lonnie's signature works comprise decorative cut-outs made from black builders' paper, which pay homage to Pacific women and their traditional arts. Maori Kowhaiwhai, koru motifs, Polynesian designs and frangipani forms alternate with 'pidgin' cut-outs or 'Scary Spice' like silhouettes. These decorations create a delicate interplay of space, light and shadow expressing socio/political/gender and cultural concerns.

In Black Pearl her cut-outs float before drawings of naked Polynesian women who were kept as sex slaves on pearl trading ships. Hutchinson films the scene through the eyes of the voyeur, confirming the perilous situation these captive women endured.

Paradise Lust at Mary Newton Gallery until 14 October