Ruth Buchanan & Luke Willis-Thompson in ‘Recovering Art’ at Dax Centre

The Cunningham Dax Collection holds one of the world’s most significant collections of art made in the context of mental illness and psychological trauma, with its earliest works created within the nascent art programs in psychiatric institutions.

*Recovering Art* takes the earliest moments of the collection’s formation as its starting point and looks at the different ways we have understood the relationship between art and mental health, from the era of institutionalisation to now.

The exhibition brings together over 40 works including early archival material and collection works from the Cunningham Dax Collection, set beside new and recent works by leading contemporary artists from Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand to consider the myriad of ways art can play a role in one’s life as we navigate the reality of mental illness and disability.

Guest curated by Andy Butler.

Artists: Abdul Abdullah, Ruth Buchanan, Graeme Doyle, Carla Krijt, Jenna Lee, NEG, Renee Sutton, Luke Willis Thompson, John Young Zerunge

Ruth Buchanan & Luke Willis-Thompson at both represented by Coastal Signs in Tāmaki Makaurau

To find more exhibitions around the world by New Zealand artists, visit ArtNow.NZ

Image: John YOUNG ZERUNGE, Time’s Slow Passing #6 from the series Time’s Slow Passing, 2023, etching and lithography on rag paper, 44 x 38 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.