CV

Yolunda Hickman
Born 1988, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.
Lives and works on Gadigal land in Sydney.

Yolunda Hickman’s practice explores the potential of images and communication systems within different visual histories and subcultures, with specific interest in craft, design, information communication, textiles and the wider fields of painting. By altering and translating a variety of found source images, she attempts to explore the slippages of meaning in image production and communicative function.

 In 2019, Yolunda was awarded the 4Plinths Sculpture Commission by the Wellington Sculpture Trust, with Signal Forest opening the following year on the Te Papa Tongarewa forecourt. Yolunda has exhibited widely across Aotearoa, including Domestic Sects at Neon Park, Melbourne; Size at Te Tuhi; Crossings at Adam Art Gallery, Wellington; Shoaling at Blue Oyster, Dunedin; and Zombies Everywhere at Sumer Gallery, Tauranga.

In 2020, Yolunda completed her Doctorate of Fine Arts at Elam (University of Auckland, New Zealand). She is currently the Head of Postgraduate Studies at the National Art School (Sydney, Australia) and is the Visual Arts Advisor to the Copyright Licensing New Zealand board to develop strategies supporting advocacy and policy for artists’ rights and education.

SELECTED  EXHIBITIONS

2023
Nova, Sumer Fine Arts, Auckland (group)
Opening, DEMO, Auckland (group)

2021
Crossings, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington, curated by Tina Barton, Millie Dow & Sophie Thorn, Wellington (group)
Domestic Sects, Neon Parc, Melbourne (group)
Auckland Art Fair, Sumer Gallery booth and Sculpture space, Auckland
Groundwork, Contemporary Sculpture, curated by Kate Darrow, Cambridge
Novella, Laree Payne Gallery, Hamilton (group)

2020
Shoaling, Blue Oyster Project Space, Dunedin (solo)
Zombies Everywhere, Sumer Gallery, Tauranga (with Michael Kennedy)
Signal Forest, Wellington Sculpture Trust 4Plinths, Wellington (commission) 

2019
MEATWARE, Sumer Gallery, Tauranga (group) 
you had fun experience, George Fraser Gallery, Auckland (group)

2018
Species of spaces and other pieces, George Fraser Gallery, Auckland (with Sandra Bushby)

2017
Passed, repeating last, Five Walls, Melbourne (group)
Icons, George Fraser Gallery, Auckland (solo)

2016
A Stitch in Time, Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland (group)
Empty Orchestra Rock Garden, Papakura Art Gallery (with Gabrielle Amodeo)
Transitional Field Work, Demo, Auckland (group)

2015
Legend and Letters, Window onsite and online, Auckland (solo)

2014
Terrace Setting, RM, Auckland (with Amy Unkovich)
Size, Te Tuhi, Auckland (solo)
Of the world (Stars), Old South British, Auckland (commission)

2013   
How things bear their telling, MFA exhibition, Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland
Adjectives, 30 Upstairs, Wellington (solo)
Duas Cidades, RM, Auckland and Veredas-SP, Sao Paolo, Brazil (group)
Expanded Map, RM, Auckland, curated by James Wylie & Ruth Watson (group) 

2012   
The same sentence in every language, PGDip exhibition, Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland

2011   
Field Essays, organised with Michelle Beattie and Andy Gomez, Karangahape Rd, Auckland (group)
Moon, Auckland Arts Festival (commission)

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS & BIBLIOGRAPHY

Amodeo, G. (ed). Assay/Essay: Artist-Run in Aotearoa New Zealand. Wellington, New Zealand, Enjoy Gallery, 2016.
Beattie, M and Hickman, Y. Field Essays: The Importance of Practice. Auckland, New Zealand, self-published, 2011.
Blue Oyster Project Space. Yolunda Hickman in Conversation with Hope Wilson. 2020.
The Physics Room. HAMSTER. Word Shapes. Christchurch, New Zealand, 2019.
Hanfling, E. Exhibition Review: Blue Oyster. Art New Zealand, Number 176, 2020.  
Hanfling, E. But How Does It Mean? Auckland, New Zealand, Art New Zealand cover feature, Number 152, 2014.
Watson, R and Wylie, J. Expanded Map. Auckland, New Zealand, Index, 2013.
Wynne-Jones, V. Signal Forests: Yolunda Hickman’s 4 Plinths. Wellington, New Zealand, Wellington Sculpture Trust, 2020.

SELECTED AWARDS & RESIDENCIES

 2019
4Plinths Sculpture Award, Wellington Sculpture Trust, Wellington.
RM Summer Residency, RM, Auckland.

 2016
Doctoral Scholarship, University of Auckland, Auckland.
BAiR Text, The Banff Centre of Arts and Creativity, Banff, Canada.

 2013
Henrietta and Lola Anne Tunbridge Watercolour Award, University of Auckland, Auckland.
MFA Painting Prize, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, Auckland.
Paul Beadle Scholarship, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, Auckland.