Following the opening of Dame Robin White’s major retrospective exhibition at Te Papa,¹ Mark Stocker asked her if she would be willing to answer some questions and discuss various points arising from it. The following is a record of the conversation between an inquisitive art historian and an artist whose work has been nicely described by Justin Paton as ‘not just interesting or compelling or elegant or whatever, but wise’.²

Mark Stocker: Is the Te Papa exhibition Robin White: Something is Happening Here a success?

Robin White: It was a formidable task to get it looking right. I note the way that the works are given a fair amount of space which can facilitate concentration on them. The arrangement is logical and it shows a sensitivity to the places where I lived and worked. The Kiribati hang works well—it suits the circumstances— it’s like going into the lagoon itself and being surrounded by a thin thread of land and the hanging echoed that. I also liked the unusual colour scheme, chosen from the postcards of Pleasant Island.

M.S.: What about the way the works on paper or barkcloth are fixed to the walls, using colour-coded magnets? I thought this was really effective.