Nikolai Kokx - 'The Hand' - 22 June-16 July 2018, Photospace Gallery Wellington, New Zealand

This photographic series consists of images of the anonymous hands of secondary school students who have branded their hands with “tattoos” in biro. Often the product of classroom boredom, these applications of ink may appear as mindless doodlings, but on closer examination they reveal loaded subliminal messages of a kind suggesting speculation on the origins and significance of the tattoo in human societies, as well as engaging us with associated and often unsettling social issues and very contemporary ideas around the construction of self – in this case the volatile teenage self.

Exhibition review on Photoforum-nz.org, by Peter Ireland

'Untitled, 2008' - Nikolai Kokx, from 'The Hand' series

Nikolai Kokx - artist information
Born in Wellington, New Zealand
Lives and works in Gladstone, Wairarapa, New Zealand
Education
1994-8 BFA in Painting, Quay School For The Arts, Wanganui Regional Polytechnic (now UCOL).

Solo Exhibitions
2010 Dwelling, Mahara Gallery, Waikanae
2010 Dwelling, Aratoi-Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton.
2007 Examining Self, Aratoi-Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton
1999 Writing On The Wall, Aratoi-Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton.

Selected Group Exhibitions
2013 Available Light: imagining more than we see, Mahara Gallery, Waikanae
2013 AUCKLAND ART FAIR 2013, Available Light: imagining more than we see, McNamara Gallery
2013 Available Light: imagining more than we see, McNamara Gallery, Wanganui
2010 KIN The New Zealand Portrait Gallery / Te Pukenga Whakaata, Wellington
2009 Dwelling, McNamara Photography Gallery, Wanganui
2007 Moving Still, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland
2006 Prologue: the Matthew Couper & Jo Russ Collection, Sarjeant Art Gallery, Wanganui
2005 Return of the Hand, Sarjeant Art Gallery, Wanganui
2005 What’s in the picture, Expressions Art Gallery, Upper Hutt, Wellington
2004 Fresh Brew, Mahara Gallery, Waikanae
2003-04 Tracing the Polaroid SX-70, McNamara Gallery, Wanganui
2003 50/50, Aratoi - Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton
2002-03 Victory Over Death, Peter McLeavey Gallery, Wellington
2002 The Changing Landscape, Mahara Gallery, Waikanae
2002 Wairarapa Review, Aratoi–Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton
2001 Outside Looking In, Point Zero Gallery, Wanganui.

Publications
Tracing the SX-70, Catalogue, McNamara Gallery, Wanganui
The Changing Landscape, Catalogue, Mahara Gallery, Waikanae
Dwelling, Catalogue, Aratoi-Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton.

'Untitled, 2014' - Nikolai Kokx, from 'The Hand' series

'Untitled, 2015' - Nikolai Kokx, from 'The Hand' series