Annwn

Thom Hinton

31/07/25 - 23/08/25

Opening Wednesday 30 July 5:30 pm

Annwn takes its name from the Welsh ‘Otherworld’—a realm woven through land and lore. Although the details of pre-Christian Celtic rites remain largely unknown, it’s clear that the land was deeply honoured, along with the Otherworld believed to be entwined within it. Thom Hinton’s exhibition considers how this ancestral Celtic knowledge might guide pākehā in engaging with the pūrākau and histories of Aotearoa. Could the wisdom of an ancestral indigenous worldview help tauiwi to serve this whenua and its communities?

In his series of fresco tablets, Hinton examines the syncretism between Christianity and pagan traditions. Made of plaster and iron oxide pigments, the tablets depict Celtic crosses obtruding onto the landscape—gestures of both reverence and imposition. Interlacing patterns run throughout the works, reflecting the complex cosmology encoded in Celtic designs, which survive in artefacts like the illuminated manuscripts of Kells and Lindisfarne.

These tablets are accompanied by an 8mm film composed of archival footage from Hinton’s late father, with a soundtrack made in collaboration with Thomas Carroll. Originally shot in Gwynedd and the Wyre Forest, this footage is intercut with Hinton’s own shots from Tāmaki Makaurau. A recurring image of a dog nods to the Hounds of Annwn—mythical hunters said to roam the slopes of Cadair Idris. These landscapes, thousands of miles apart, share the liminal spaces believed in Celtic tradition to offer access to the Otherworld.

An accompanying essay, Thom Hinton: between the worlds and between the times, is written by Victoria Wynne-Jones.

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Thom Hinton (b.1987) is an artist and kaimahi taiohi based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Hinton emigrated from the UK in 2005. His previous exhibitions include Dogsbody w/ Erika Holm, at Grace, Tāmaki Makaurau (2024); Nuance (group) at Kunstquartier Bethanien, Berlin (2024); and Spirit In The Mass, at Paper Anniversary, Tāmaki Makaurau (2022).

Victoria Wynne-Jones (b.1981) is a curator and art historian working on Dharawal land at Hazelhurst Arts Centre, Gymea.

Thomas Carroll (b.1984, Ngāti Maru, Hauraki; Pākehā) is a ngā taonga pūoro maker, player, and sonic artist.

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