Te Uru - Bill Hammond: Serenading Imagined Worlds

Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery

Open daily, 10am to 4.30pm

Closed Christmas Day, Good Friday & ANZAC Day morning

Entry is free

Serenading Imagined Worlds

On Show 7 December 2025 - 22 February 2026

Bill Hammond (1947–2021) is widely recognised as one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most original and influential painters. His practice, spanning more than four decades, moves seamlessly between styles, subjects and mediums, yet always retains a voice that is unmistakably his own. Serenading Imagined Worlds surveys Hammond’s entire career, tracing his journey from an inventive young artist to a figure whose works became cultural touchstones, shaping the way we in Aotearoa see our own histories, myths and landscapes.

Serenading Imagined Worlds brings together works from four distinct chapters of Hammond’s practice, allowing audiences to see the full sweep of his career—from the handcrafted playfulness of his wooden works,to the detail of his prints, the raw vitality of paintings from the 1980’s and early 1990’s, and the profound otherworldliness of paintings influenced by his visit to the Auckland Islands. Exhibited together, the works reveal an artist who refused to be confined, who consistently remade himself, and who, through his distinctive vision, reshaped how we imagine our place in the world.

Bill Hammond’s art remains a taonga: a body of work that continues to resonate deeply with questions of identity, environment, and imagination in Aotearoa and beyond.

Curated by Hōhua Thompson and AD Schierning

Image | Bill Hammond, All Along the Heaphy Highway, 1990 Collection of The Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū

Email info@teuru.org.nz with any enquiries or phone 09 817 8087

Bill Hammond