Sarah Hudson

Sarah Peti Sian Hudson (born ) and Ngāti Pūkeko descent based in Whakatāne. Mataaho Collective for national and global audiences. with 'single authorship' and recently were awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2024.

In her physical practice she is classified as a lens focused artist, however this doesn't cover the breadth of her works. Hudson's photography, performance, installation,

Exhibitions Hudson, Manatū Ahu Matua (2014), digital photographWormhole Gallery, Edgecumbe 2023Piece for The Polyphonic SeaAntonia Barnett-McIntosh, Andrew Beck, Ruth Buchanan, The Estate of L. Budd, Sione Faletau, Samuel Holloway, Sarah Hudson, Sonya Lacey, Nova Paul, Sriwhana Spong, and Shannon Te AoMultimedia installationBundanon, NSW, Australia Other group exhibitions with Hudson's contributions can be found with the Mataaho Collective. (Music by Kahu Kutia and Sylvan Spring) (Cinematography by Rachel Anson)Auckland Pride 2023 & Christchurch Art Gallery 2024he tuahu ki a UkurangiInstallation included in Heipūkarea, a celebration of atua wāhineAronui Indigenous Arts Festival 2024

Workshops and events

October 2016: Artist Talk on Blakdot Gallery's exhibition Ōpōtiki, New Zealand's First Drone-Friendly Town January 2020: Headwear with Sarah Hudson, aligning with Māori Moving Image: An Open Archive at Christchurch Art Gallery (August 2019 – January 2020). Participants worked with the artist to make headwear protecting you from identifying technologies like cameras and facial recognition to bring ideas of public versus private versions to the forefront of the audience's minds. March 2020: The Art of Looking, a workshop to teach children how to see and interpret contemporary art, at Te Kōputu te whanga a Toi, Library and Exhibition Centre, Whakatāne.

Publications

Mana Whenua, 2020

The making of bread, etc. with Zoe Thompson-Moore in As Needed, As Possible, April 2020 Contributor to The Vessel Magazine, Love as a Rebellious Act on Ron Te Kawa's textile explorations with te ao Māori.

Projects

Hudson took part in the conclusive exhibition of the Wild Pigment Project, curated by the project's founding director Tilke Elkins. It was shown from 17 September to 3 December 2022, displaying over 20 global artists' earth pigment works. Hudson curated an exhibition correlating with her publication Mana Whenua which was on display from February to April 2022 at Wormhole Gallery, Edgecumbe. She curated M/other, 20 April 2019 – 7 August 2019 at Whakatāne Museum and Arts As exhibitions curator at Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi—Whakatāne Library and Exhibition Centre, Hudson presented an embroidery piece by Maungarongo Te Kawa (Ngāti Porou) in an exhibition called Corners of the Heart.

Awards

2022 Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate (with the Mataaho Collective) 2023 Molly Morpeth Canaday Painting & Drawing Awards, Hudson received a Local Artist Merit award sponsored by 4Artsake Gallery from guest judge Kelcy Taratoa, for her work entitled Kōkōwai.

Residencies

2012: Enjoy Contemporary Art Space residency ) Hudson's time in this artist residency was spent in the Broad Bay area of Dunedin for its abundance of earth pigments and paint binders like tree gum and honey. Through her creative process of collection, grinding and mixing of various dyes and paints she prepared work as a result of her residency, but most significantly was able to whakapapa back to her ancestors through the generational practice of rock art. to complete an artist residency in Naoshima, Japan Hudson named and themed her collection of work Reconciliation and included the following pieces: The Stones Remember and I Listen (watercolour paintings with earth pigments from land she whakapapas to in Moutohorā, and indigo pigment from the Kagawa prefecture), stone works In my teeth, the DNA of cliffs, and The taste of old stories, used pebbles from Megijima, and a video work called Belonging.

The works she produced were also exhibited in Aotearoa. Belonging I and II along with an AI poem were shown at Kia Mau Festival, Wellington from 2 to 15 June 2025. Furthermore Belonging I and II, five watercolour pieces and photographs of Moutohorā in collaboration with Whakatāne Museums and Archives, the poem, and new sculptures based on archaeologies of wāhi tapu on Moutohorā, were all shown at Te Kōputu in Whakatāne from 4 July to 6 September 2025.

Additionally during her time in Japan, Hudson completed a residency at Miki Junior High School, Japan and taught students there about natural dyeing methods.

Lectures

She presented an Ockham lecture titled Serious Fun on 22 July at Objectspace where she made examples of three Māori artists, Maungarongo Te Kawa, Ayesha Green, Turumeke Harrington "who employ fun, play and frivolity to explore pūrakau."