Solo exhibition
Rokowhiria Ashburton Art Gallery
Hakatere
May-June 2026
Images by Jenny Partington and Noel Meek.
This project arises from a long family history of entanglement with Coal. From the Scottish
mining town of Falkirk to the Denniston Plateau on Te Tai Poutini, the West Coast, Noel Meek’s ancestry has staked its livelihood on Coal’s extraction from the earth to feed the furnaces of industry.
In a closely shot video work, Coal is presented as an intricate landscape, exploring its textures and surface lustre. Coal ‘speaks’ through an imagined first-person monologue. Scores asking us to ‘Witness’, ‘Stand in Solidarity’, and ‘Find Intimacy With’ Coal suggest potential ways of relating to this ancient substance. The works ask if humans can find common ground with Coal and move from an exploitative relationship to a collaborative one.
Works
1. the cuckoo sings for me, for the mountain, 2026. Single channel 4K video, 26 minutes
2. Coal Scores, 2025. Digital images.
3. Coal (liberated), 2025.