A descendant of indigenous Māori in New Zealand, Hemi MacGregor centers her painting and installation-based practice around political and cultural references to his ancestry. MacGregor's work has spanned painting, sculpture, and mixed media, and thematically presents the recurring motifs of Māori mythology and theology alongside contemporary cultural issues. In his recent sculpture exhibition, “Remote Control”, MacGregor channeled the readymades of Marcel Duchamp into sculptures of modern surveillance cameras, such as Agent Provocateur #3 (2012), which displays a camera ornamented in wrought iron that recalls Victorian architecture. MacGregor also includes the Ruru, an owl native to New Zealand, which, combined with the cameras, symbolizes the country's indigenous opposition to political surveillance.
A descendant of indigenous Māori in New Zealand, Hemi MacGregor centers her painting and installation-based practice around political and cultural references to his ancestry. MacGregor's work has spanned painting, sculpture, and mixed media, and thematically presents the recurring motifs of Māori mythology and theology alongside contemporary cultural issues. In his recent sculpture exhibition, “Remote Control”, MacGregor channeled the readymades of Marcel Duchamp into sculptures of modern surveillance cameras, such as Agent Provocateur #3 (2012), which displays a camera ornamented in wrought iron that recalls Victorian architecture. MacGregor also includes the Ruru, an owl native to New Zealand, which, combined with the cameras, symbolizes the country's indigenous opposition to political surveillance.