Curated by Sonja | Art reviews on Sonja's blog | Sonja's other projects | Sonja's Artworks arranged by Medium | Sonja's c.v.
Curated by Sonja | Art reviews on Sonja's blog | Sonja's other projects | Sonja's Artworks arranged by Medium | Sonja's c.v.
The poster features work by Denise Batchelor
#thepassagequestartspace #questartspace #tearaquestartspace
#creativenorthland @sonjavank @creative.northland
Photographs by Denise Batchelor. Oil on canvas by Carole Prentice
Right to Left: Calligraphy by Bevan Holmes, mirrors, paint, pencil by Sue Vincent Hill
Photographs by A.A.M. Bos, M Harrison + T Vink, K Rasic
Right to Left: works by Bevan Holmes + Sue Vincent Hall.
You Could Feel The Sky-II, video still, 2025, by Mekhlla Harrison and Thom Vink, India
A slow passage of the elements filmed in Gurgaon, Haryana, India.
A surreal collection of images of the burning "kandas" that are
a metaphor for the changing landscape. info: quartair.nl | instagram
Welcome Home (from A Dot, A Line, A Seed, A Plant), collage
by Katarina Rašiċ, Belgrade, Serbia katarinarasic.com | @katarinarasicart
artists
A.A.M. Bos, Auckland | Tāmaki-makau-rau mokopopaki.co.nz | view the work
Angiola Bonanni Madrid, Spain angiolabonanni.com | view the work
Anna Borrie Madrid, Spain @anna.borrie | view the work
Bevan Holmes, Whangārei | view the work
Bev Goodwin, Auckland | Tāmaki-makau-rau @bevgoodwinartist | view the work
Brenda Liddiard, Auckland | Tāmaki-makau-rau brendaliddiard.co.nz | view the work
Carlos Tejo, Galicia, Spain carlostejo.com | view the work
Carole Prentice, Whangārei caroleprentice.co.nz | view the work
Dave Taylor, Whangārei quarryarts.org | view the work
Denise Batchelor, Hokianga denisebatchelor.com | view the work
Denise Corden, Matauri Bay | view the work
Dr P, Auckland | Tāmaki-makau-rau mokopopaki.co.nz | view the work
Elaine Arkell, London, UK linkedin.com | view the work
Emma Snell, Ruakaka emmasnellart.com | @pphthalo | view the work
Geert Keuter, Leiden, The Netherlands @geertkeuter | studio12.nl | view the work
Ian S Mozdzen, Mexico instagram.com/iansmoz | view the work
Jacqueline Wassen, Maastricht, The Netherlands jacquelinewassen.nl | view the work
Jeff Thomson, Helensville jeffthomson.co.nz | view the work
Jessy Rahman, The Hague, The Netherlands @jessytheorahman | view the work
Judith Bloedjes, Leiden, The Netherlands @judith_bloedjes | judithbloedjes.nl | view
Katarina Balunova, Bratislava, Slovakia @katarina.balunova | katarinabalunova.com | the work
Katarina Rašiċ, Belgrade, Serbia @katarinarasicart | katarinarasic.com | view the work
Liam Astbury, Whangārei instagram.com/cattitude.by.liam | view the work
Leonard Murupaenga, Whangārei creativenorthland.com | view the work
Mekhlla Harrison, Gurgaon, Haryana, India @mekhlaharrison | view the work
Nicolas Chevallier Whangaroa NicolasChevallier.com | view the work
Pierre Spierckel, Périgueux, France | view the work
Pieterje van Splunter, The Hague, The Netherlands pietertje.net | view the work
Penny Collins, Kerikeri instagram.com | facebook.com | pennycollins.co.nz | view the work
Sara Haq, London, UK instagram.com | bb10.berlinbiennale.de | view the work
Sen McGlinn, Kawakawa sculpturebysen.wordpress.com
Sonja van Kerkhoff, Kawakawa sonjavank.com
Stephanie Rohlfs San Francisco, U.S.A stephanierohlfs.com | view the work
S Vincent Hill, Rodney | view the work | the next work
Thom Vink The Hague, The Netherlands thom-vink.com | view the work
Ursula Christel, Warkworth ursulachristel.com | view the work
Vivekananda Kadakam Ramakrishna, Mangalore, India instagram.com/wewakeandah | view
Yell Freeman, New York, USA @yellfreeman | yelvertonfreeman.com | view
Right: Denise Batchelor, Hokianga
Abstraction I + II, 2017, photograph (mounted), limited edition 1 of 5
In this body of work, I explore the Lion's Mane jellyfish through a lens of intimate proximity. The jellyfish itself is a responsive organism, guided by unseen currents and invisible routes. It shapes itself around change, following pathways both internal and environmental. In removing the context of the complete body, the imagery becomes otherworldly, suggestive of celestial formations, microscopic structures, or imaginary landscapes. Ultimately, this work invites reflection on how we perceive and interpret the unfamiliar, and how perception is shaped not only by what we see, but by what remains unseen.
Denise Batchelor is a visual artist based in Hokianga. A recipient of artist residencies and art awards, Batchelor has exhibited widely in galleries, art centres and festivals, both in New Zealand and internationally. Her work is held in public and private collections. Batchelor completed a Master of Fine Arts from Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design in 2011. denisebatchelor.com
Carole Prentice, Whangārei Harbour
Autumn Nations, 2022, Oil on canvas, 110 x 75 cm
A moa bird wrestles with a stone he will have to swallow to clear his gullet before his encounter with the rooster! In a fierce encounter in 2023 New Zealand was beaten by France for the second time in a row at the Stade de France. This year, 2025, we won!
Carole is represented by mokopopaki.co.nz | caroleprentice.co.nz
Left to Right: Choose your Destiny, framed calligraphy, by Bevan Holmes, Whangārei
The Shadow, 2025, mirrors, paint, pencil by Sue Vincent Hill, Wellsford
Northland Roadsong I, Northland Roadsong II 2025, photographs on by A.A.M Bos, Auckland
You Could Feel The Sky-II, video still by Mekhlla Harrison + Thom Vink,
Welcome Home (from A Dot, A Line, A Seed, A Plant), photographic collage by Katarina Rašiċ, Belgrade, Serbia
The Shadow, 2025, mirrors, paint, pencil by Sue Vincent Hill, Wellsford
In Jungian psychology, the Jungian shadow is the unconscious, repressed part of the personality that contains traits, desires, and qualities an individual considers undesirable, unacceptable, or shameful. While it includes negative aspects, the shadow also holds positive, untapped potential in terms of psychological insight and creativity. Seldom do we see our shadow and reflection together; more often, it is as they pass each other by.
Text in the middle panel:
Between the sight and the existence
Between the capture and the escape
Between the idea and the reality
Falls the shadow..
T.S.Elliot
The two mirrors were stolen near the beginning of the exhibition.
In response, Sue Vincent Hill drew two arrows in pencil pointing to the empty hooks.
Left to Right: Northland Roadsong I and Northland Roadsong II, 2025, 30 x 30 cm photographs by A.A.M. Bos,
Auckland | Tāmaki-makaurau. A.A.M Bos is represented by mokopopaki.co.nz | the artists in this show >>
This shows Highway 1 just south of the Brynderwyn pass - the main passage to the North (of New Zealand). Note the landslide in one photo. A common occurance now of the past few years.
Left to Right: Northland Roadsong I + II, 2025, two 30 x 30 cm photographs by A.A.M. Bos
Right: works by Mekhlla Harrison and Thom Vink, India and Katarina Rašiċ
Welcome Home reflects Katarina Rašiċ's exploration of the shifting meaning of home-
for the body, memory, and the city itself. This collage is part of her larger body of work
A Dot, A Line, A Seed, A Plant, initiated in Belgrade in 2019 and later developed in
Bangkok and Portugal through a series of workshops, performances, and community based interventions. Rooted in themes of migration, belonging, and impermanence, the work activates public space as a site of storytelling where the personal merges with the
collective.
Welcome Home embodies Rašiċ's ongoing interest in using art as both introspection and
change—connecting self and community through vulnerability, memory, and
regeneration. Here, the city becomes a collaborator, framing a dialogue between past and
present, and reimagining what "home" means when it is constantly shifting.
katarinarasic.com | @katarinarasicart | artists in this show
Overview of the Quest Art Space, Whangārei, New Zealand
Left to Right: works by Vivekananda Kadakam Ramakrishna, Jessy Rahman, Anna Borrie,
Thom Vink, and Jacqueline Wassen
Three photographs by Jessy Rahman The Hague, The Netherlands. @jessytheorahman
Left ot Right: Bus stop Reflection, photograph by Anna Borrie, Madrid, Spain
Iceland 2025, photograph by Thom Vink, The Hague, The Netherlands haagsekunstenaars.nl
Passages Postcards 2000, by Jacqueline Wassen, Maastricht, The Netherlands jacquelinewassen.nl | artists >>
Śāradā / Autumn, digital print created in Procreate by Vivekananda Kadakam Ramakrishna, India. @wewakeandah | artists in this show
Part of the series Sound of the Beast, a multimedia exploration of myth, ecology, and
memory. Taking inspiration from Kālidāsa's Ṛtusaṃhāra, the painting reimagines early
autumn as a threshold between fading rains and ripening abundance, where beauty and
impermanence converge.
The series follows the journey of a mythic beast through six Indian seasons, each
reflecting a different stage of the creative process. After the possession of the monsoon,
Śāradā becomes the season of dance. The beast, caught in a trance, moves as though
creation itself is flowing through its body. Here, art is lived as much as it is made-the
act of becoming inseparable from the act of creating.
Read more about the series here: Verve Magazine - Sound of the Beast
Poem (with this image)
O, legions of the ancient army;
This is my ode to melancholia and paranoid digits.
I sit,
I crawl,
I branch out in this barren land sniffing sweet cherries,
digging through blue graves;
Inscribing epitaphs on my skin.
I adorn myself in robes made for the Gods, dancing like them.
My tongue feasts on the delicacies of the Asuras
The suns of Mitra are now forgotten too.
Bloodstains that don't go away; smeared on my face,
The memory of a hummingbird around my neck
I sing. I keep singing.
Consume these fluids
and
Swallow me whole.
Right: Three photographs from Jessy Rahman performances.
On a train to Nowhere (Orient Express), two photographs from a performance at the Haydarpasa Terminal, Kadikoy, Istanbul, 2017 as part of the
Taste of Tea - a parallel exhibition of the 15th Istanbul Biennale.
More info: 9dh-istanbul.com
Jessy with fish, photograph, The Netherlands. Born in Suriname, Jessy moved to the Netherlands as a child with his family. @jessytheorahman | the artists in this show >>
Right: Anna Borrie, a graduate of the Ilam School of Arts, Christchurch, has been based in Madrid since 2015. She is Creative co-founder @thehorizontalcollective
And associate editor for @planted_journal | @anna.borrie
Thom Vink a member of the Quartair Art Collective is based in The Hague, The Netherlands and Dehradun, India. facebook.com/thom.vink
A graduate of the Maastricht School of Visual Arts, Jacqueline Wassen is an illustrator and artist based in Maastricht. jacquelinewassen.nl
Works by Nicolas Chevallier, Dave Taylor, Bev Goodwin, Sonja van Kerkhoff, Denise Corden
Next row: Denise Corden, Emma Snell, Bev Goodwin, Sue Vincent Hill, Nicolas Chevallier, Dr P
Bottom row: Liam Astbury, Brenda Liddiard, Leonard Murupaenga.
Amazonian jungle embrace 2 piece, acrylic on canvas by Nicolas Chevallier, Whangaroa NicolasChevallier.com | The artists in this show
Whangārei Tereinga, woodcut and acrylic, by Dave Taylor, Whangārei quarryarts.org/dave-taylor-carver
Earthed square, 2025, acrylic + insulation wire on hardboard by Sonja van Kerkhoff, Kawakawa sonjavank.com
Niched, acrylic on wood by Denise Corden, Matauri Bay, the Far North
Next row: Elliptic Myst. II, acrylic on wood, 15cm circle, by Denise Corden, Matauri Bay, The Far North
The Path, 2025, acrylic on canvas by Emma Snell, Ruakaka, @pphthalo | The artists in this show
Coils, recycled wires, by Bev Goodwin Auckland | Tāmaki-makaurau @bevgoodwinartist
Zits and Wrinkles ink on paper, etched glass
by Sue Vincent Hill, Wellsford
Elemental origins, acrylic on canvas by Nicolas Chevallier, Whangaroa
Back Passage photograph by Dr P, Auckland | Tāmaki-makaurau
Crazy Human Cat Heads, silkscreen on paper by Liam Astbury, Whangārei/Dargaville @cattitude.by.liam
Cauldron mixed media on paper by Brenda Liddiard, Auckland | Tāmaki-makaurau brendaliddiard.co.nz
Coloured pencil and pen on nautical maps
by Leonard Murupaenga, Whangārei | artists >>
Painting by Nicolas Chevallier (detail), Back Passage photograph by Dr P,
Drawings on Nautical maps by Leonard Murupaenga.
Zits and Wrinkles ink on paper, etched glass
by Sue Vincent Hill, Wellsford
In folklore, a crone is an old woman who may be characterized as disagreeable, malicious, or sinister in manner, often with magical or supernatural associations that can make her either helpful or obsolete. The Crone is also an archetypical figure or a Wise Woman. | The artists in this show
Left to Right: La riviere "Isle" Périgueux, 2025, oil on cardboard and paper by Pierre Spierckel, France
Queen of the Night, Pen and ink on paper by Penny Collins, Kerikeri,
pennycollins.co.nz; All the Presidents Men Change II,
by Elaine Arkell London, UK; Walking the Line, two photographs framed, performative walk, 2025, by Katarina Bulanova, Slovenia.
All Empires Fall, 2024-5, photograph by Sara Haq, London, UK; Two Trees, 2018, acrylic and card on hardboard by Pieterje van Splunter,
The Hague, The Netherlands, pietertje.net; They didn’t know we were seeds, 7th October 2024, photograph by Sara Haq, London, UK.
Quest Art Space is a public arcade in the heart of the city of Whangārei. The space is run by Creative Northland
Walking the Line, two photographs framed, performative walk, 2025,
by Katarina Bulanova, Bratislava, Slovenia.
All the Presidents Men Change II, by Elaine Arkell London, UK
My respiratory medicine consultant loved the re-purposed upcycled inhalers and took photos that he spread out to his colleagues, this Dr is same man who worked day and night to save lives in the pandemic, he is a hero. Misinformation is the enemy of our present times and looking into our shared futures, it may undermine all efforts to control climate already changed.
All the Presidents Men Change II is reference to the film that co starred Robert Redford, when we thought we had seen the worst of the American presidency in action, how naïve we are - Trump is here with this bunch of supporters with new Bible of Control pre published and supported by the billionaires of pure greed.
Walking the Line, two photographs framed, performative walk, 180 min, June 2025,
by Katarina Bulanova, Bratislava, Slovenia.
I walked 11 kilometres along a disused railway from Cañada del Hoyo to Palancares in central Spain, transforming the journey into a meditation on the loss of public transport and its deep
regional effects. Walking a single rail demanded focus and balance, reflecting the fragile situation of communities cut off from transit.
Each step symbolized the effort needed to maintain connections lost with the railway’s closure. Ecologically, the overgrown railway shows nature reclaiming industrial spaces, while the loss of sustainable transport increases car dependency and emissions. This solitary walk sought to briefly revive the forgotten purpose of the line, emphasizing the vital role of public transport for social, economic, and environmental well-being.
The performance took place as part of IBERICA - International Performance Art Residency & Festival organized and curated by Hector Canonge for INPA, International Network of Performance Art, within the site of Kárstica Espacio de Creación, Spain.
Photos: Istvan Kovacs. Support & collaboration: Sonja van Kerkhoff, Sen McGlinn, Katarina Rasic, Kau Chiayu Lin
They didn't know we were seeds, 7th October 2024, photograph by Sara Haq, London, UK.
All Empires Fall, 2024-5, photograph by Sara Haq, London, UK; Two Trees – Twee Bomen,
acrylic and card on hardboard, by Pieterje van Splunter The Hague, The Netherlands, pietertje.net
All Empires Fall:
This series was made at whilst on a cat sitting artists residency / retreat in Northern Sweden in Nov-December 2024. Finding solace from immense grief & pain of the ongoing genocide being committed in Gaza, Palestine, I took daily forest walks. These were cathartic and healing, but after sometime I started to shift my perception to summoning something much needed. The Fall of Empire and supremacist ideologies. Pine trees were planted all over Palestine by the Israeli Occupation, and settlers often to cover over sites of massacres and atrocities. They are not native to Palestine and have caused environmental harm to the existing ecology. They have shallow roots and are toxic touch off the existing ecology which has become endangered as a result. I bring trust here to the passing of time and the will of nature.
They didn't know we were seeds, 7th October 2024: This series was made at my kitchen table with my phone camera, after a year of bearing witness to the most unconscionable atrocities in Gaza, Palestine. In a state of immense grief and reflection, I had no words but wanted to somehow honour the Martyrs and those still trying to survive. I made the images to also honour the way Palestinians were having to document and share the hardest things in their lives with nothing but they have on them. The pomegranate is multi layered in symbolism and meaning, and the process of making, explores the process of breaking open and that being a source of growth, and renewal, the eternal passages of time and cycles of nature. This work was featured as the cover for a literary journal, The Missing Slate. @monkeytreepro
Untitled (mano alta / high hand), digital print by Carlos Tejo, Galicia, Spain. @carlostejoveloso.art
Carlos is an educator, curator and artist.
His 2007 phD is
"The turn of photography in Cuba at the end of the 20th century: visions of the body in Cuban artistic practice"
2007, University of Valencia carlostejo.com | Artists >>
Left to Right: Manaaki Manaia woodcut on archival paper by Dave Taylor, Whangārei quarryarts.org/dave-taylor-carver
Portals & Passages, 2004, acrylic & mixed media on canvas, Warkworth ursulachristel.com | The artists in this show
Vertaalbare Vensters, (Windows of translation) 2025, Limoges porselein mobile by Judith Bloedjes, Leiden, The Netherlands judithbloedjes.nl
The Voyage digital print of tempera painting by Angiola Bonanni, Madrid, Spain @angiolabonanni | angiolabonanni.com | more photos of her work
Blossom I, Blossom II, Blossom III painted corrugated iron by Jeff Thomson, Helensville jeffthomson.co.nz | More work by Jeff
Detail of a mobile + collage by Geert Keuter, Leiden, The Netherlands
Next row: Digital print in gold frame by Carlos Tejo, Galicia, Spain.
Life’s Pathways calligraphy by Bevan Holmes, Whangārei
Photo of performance by Yell Freeman, New York, USA. @yellfreeman
Ceramic and framed painting by Stephanie Rohlfs, San Francisco, USA. @srohlfs | The artists in this show
THAT WAY digital print by Ian Mozdzen, Mexico @iansmoz
ColorBration acrylic, graphite on wood by Leonard Murupaenga, Whangārei
Sculptures by Jeff Thomson, Helensville jeffthomson.co.nz
Rinse 2023 photo of performance by Yell Freeman, New York, USA. @yellfreeman. This 45 min performance was a cleansing ritual on top of a mountain in Chihuahua during a 2 week performance residency with the Raramuri community during their festival of dance.
Stash Birdhouse (maquette), glazed stoneware, and, Birdhouse (skagastrond), gouache on paper by Stephanie Rohlfs, San Francisco, USA. @srohlfs | stephanierohlfs.com
THAT WAY 2025, photo of a performance by Ian Mozdzen, Mexico @iansmoz
Ian, a model, dancer and performance artist, has a nifty system for recording his performances as part of the process and experience.
Raised in Canada, studied dance and performance in Canada, India and Japan, he moved to Mexico in 2024
ColorBration double-sided acrylic and graphite on wood by Leonard Murupaenga, Whangārei
Vertaalbare Vensters, (Windows of translation) 2025, Limoges porselein mobile by Judith Bloedjes
Left to Right: Works by Judith Bloedjes and Angiola Bonanni
works by Ursula Christel, Stephanie Rolfs, Judith Bloedjes (mobile),
Angiola Bonanni, Ian Mozdzen, Geert Keuter (mobile and plaque) andJeff Thomson.
works by Ursula Christel, Stephanie Rolfs, Judith Bloedjes (mobile),
Angiola Bonanni, Ian Mozdzen, Geert Keuter (mobile and plaque) and Jeff Thomson.
Works by Judith Bloedjes, Angiola Bonanni, Ian Mozdzen, Jeff Thomson, Geert Keuter.
Right >>:
Vertaalbare Vensters, (Windows of translation) 2025, Limoges porselein mobile by Judith Bloedjes, Leiden, The Netherlands | judithbloedjes.nl
The Voyage digital print of tempera painting by Angiola Bonanni, Madrid, Spain
We are born. All of us share this experience of a first voyage ... @angiolabonanni | angiolabonanni.com
Angiola Bonanni, born in Rome, Italy, has been based in Madrid, Spain since the mid 1960s. Her works range from welded sculpture
to installation to painting to video. She exhibits internationally.
Watch the 43 second youtube video featuring work by Judith Bloedjes, Angiola Bonanni and Geert Keuter.
Mobile for Piet mobile and collage of a poem and collage by Geert Keuter
Artists who knew artist and gallerist Piet Franzen were invited to make works in response to one of his mailart-collage poems by curator Christiaan van Tol for the July 2025 exhibition in ARS Aemula Naturae, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Sonja and Geert were given the same work to respond to. Sonja's collage, Towards the sea of time lower on the wall translates the Dutch text into English and Māori.
Geert reproduced Piet's collage, then cut holes out of this to form the circles in the mobile. The text by Piet with my poetic translations inside brackets:
gegronnen (congealed / ka totoka nga whakaaroaro)
gedachten gekorst (clotted thoughts)
op mijn lippen de nacht breekt open
(the night bursts on my lips / kei ōku ngutu, ka manahua te pō)
het licht deformeert (the light is buckled / i ngunu te ao marama)
woorden (jostling words surge)
stroom afwaarts tot een zee van tijd (towards the sea of time /
ka whakaahu ngā kupu ki te moana o te wā)
- Piet Franzen
Sculpture on the floor: Kete and Kaipara River maquette by Jeff Thomson
Short videos: @sonjavank | @sonjavank
43 second youtube video featuring work by Judith Bloedjes, Angiola Bonanni and Geert Keuter.
Facebook event page: facebook.com/events