In this installation artist George Watson brings together a series of seemingly divergent references – to the farm, the villa, and 19th-century English literature. Recurring elements across the artist’s practice, here they are positioned within a larger narrative about colonial inheritances, and the ways that these histories haunt us in the present. Constructed primarily from found and prefabricated materials, The Choice is Watson’s most physically substantial project to date, and sees the artist working with metal, textiles, artificial dust, text, and processes of subtraction to alter the space and give form to the routine violence, and vulnerabilities, embedded in some of our everyday experiences.
The work comprises large galvanised steel farm gates latched together in pairs, the removal of wall panels to reveal the internal structure, and the addition of ornate Victorian era fretwork. With these gestures, Watson establishes a reduced visual grammar evoking ideas of containment and restraint, agriculture and domesticity, labour and gentrification. At the same time, dislocated and re-contextualised as they are in the gallery setting, these sculptural elements become disruptive, troublingly beautiful, unravelling the dominant order of things.
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George Watson is an artist living in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa Gisborne, with Ngāti Porou and Ngāti Mutunga whakapapa and Moriori hokopapa. Watson graduated with a MFA from Elam School of Fine Arts, the University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau in 2016, and was awarded funding to complete the Maumaus Independent Study Programme in Lisbon, Portugal in 2019. She has a Bachelor of Media Arts (majoring in painting and sculpture) from Waikato Institute of Technology, and an honours degree in art history from The University Auckland. Recent exhibitions include Apologia, Robert Heald Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington (2025); The Farm, Coastal Signs, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (2025); Hau Whakatonu, Govett-Brewster, Ngāmotu New Plymouth (2023); Beauty Incarnate, City Gallery Wellington, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington (2023); He Rāwaho, with Peter Simpson, Coastal Signs, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (2023); and Filial, Envy6011, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington (2022). Watson is the recipient of the 2026 Jann Medlicott Award for Contemporary Art.
Abby Cunnane is a curator and writer with a background in contemporary art history. She holds a master’s degree in curatorial writing through Auckland University of Technology, and Te Pīnakitanga ki te Reo Kairangi through Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. She is currently Manutaki Director at Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery. Cunnane was previously director at The Physics Room in Ōtautahi Christchurch, and has worked as curator at St Paul St Gallery (now Te Wai Ngutu Kākā Gallery) in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
Keani Rewha is an artist and curator. His artistic practice explores ideas of autofiction, queerness, and spatial narratives through painting. Having completed a Master of Visual Arts in 2025, and a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 2023 from Auckland University of Technology, Rewha is the 2026 Pia Nahanaha Taonga | Adam Art Gallery Intern.
This project is made possible with the support of Richard Moss, and a 2025 Creative New Zealand Fellowship Grant awarded to the artist.
George Watson: The Choice
Jul 4 – Oct 11, 2026
Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery
Wellington, New Zealand
