Backwards forward
(2025)
Medium
charcoal on paper
Measurements
151.8 × 103.7 cm (sheet)
Credit Line
Suzette Marie Chapple Bequest, 2025
© Courtesy of the artist and Sutton Gallery
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work
In this series of charcoal and ink drawings, Peter Robinson examines his mixed heritage and the complexities of biculturalism. Each drawing recalls a palimpsest, with Māori facial motifs layered over cartoon-like pākehā (European) figures. Robinson has crumpled and unfolded these works, introducing creases, tears and smudges that recall the weather-worn, craggy surfaces of ana whakairo (rock art) from his iwi (tribe), Ngāi Tahu. In some works, Māori and European imagery are smudged and overwritten to near illegibility; in others, the viewer’s gaze oscillates between these two distinct stylistic languages.