A Buzzy Bee, Māori designs and an artist's lockdown longing for Lake Wakatipu are bringing a taste of home to homesick Kiwis in London, where the NZ Art Club has opened its first exhibition.
The 'Homegrown' exhibition features work by 27 artists living around the UK - 23 of them New Zealanders, the rest Australian - and runs until December 24.
It is a collaboration between the NZ Art Club and Kiwi toymaker Zuru, which is hosting the show at its headquarters in the north London suburb of Angel.
NZ Art Club founder and London-based New Zealand artist Luana Asiata said she hadn't expected the project to have such an impact on the Kiwi creative community.
"It was beautiful at the opening of the exhibition to be able to talk to everyone and for everyone to be able to connect," she said.
"It does feel like a home away from home being here and being surrounded by work from paintings to sculptures to print making and we all have our own view of the world but our main connection is New Zealand."
Acclaimed artist Sarah Jane Moon's piece 'Maybe Tomorrow' was created during the first Covid-19 lockdown in London and features herself sitting down and looking out on Lake Wakatipu.
"I was living in a basement flat in central London with not any access to outside space and I was really hankering for home and the wide open spaces of New Zealand and it's kind of about that longing."
Moon praised the breadth and diversity of pieces being created by New Zealand and Australian artists and said she is a firm believer in artists creating their own networks and opportunities to exhibit their pieces.
"I think a lot of antipodeans do that actually, we have quite a can-do attitude so I'm all for that."
She said it's also nice to connect with people that have a similar point of reference through the "amazing" NZ Art Club Luana Asiata has started.
"To have an opportunity to come together with fellow New Zealanders and just talk about where we're from, where we grew up, what sustains us here is really fantastic and something I've found that I've actually been lacking in London in my life here."
Zuru project executive Saba Haghi, who worked on the exhibition, said a highlight had been hearing from artists about what the space meant to them.
"A few of the artists came up to me... they essentially just said how nice this event was because it's comfortable and it's not as intimidating as the art world can be.
"I didn't think I'd get emotional but it was just quite... tugs on your heartstrings a bit, we had a few artists that had never shown their work before," she said.
The work fills Zuru's lobby and ground floor, including a large shelving grid designed to show visitors how the pieces might look in their own homes.
Zuru's London headquarters, Ten Four Ldn, opened late last year.
"It was like something was missing and it was all the pieces of artwork from New Zealand, got a few Australians in there but really you just look around and it's just Kiwi and you just feel really relaxed when you walk in," Haghi said.
"Personally my homesickness has reduced a lot since we've been able to tie together the building."
She said UK colleagues had also enjoyed having the art in their workspace.
"They come down and they're like OK, this feels Kiwi. They might not know much about Kiwi culture but they come down and they're like... 'it's really lovely.'"
Organisers hope more New Zealand art will go on show after the exhibition closes.
Around 12 New Zealand-owned businesses rent space in the building, according to Zuru global development manager Matt Ganley. Other Kiwi firms have taken short-term office space to start their UK chapter before finding a lease elsewhere.
"Zuru in itself has come from a small business background. It is now 25 years on, has grown," he said.
"As a small business, there's a lot of pressures on you, so a lot of those are financial pressures, some of them are pressures of not understanding the environment around you, whether that's the business environment or the political environment or even just the industry you work in, so the ability to go somewhere where you can learn from other people who have already been through those problems can be really highly beneficial."
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