Toni Hartill Art: 2026

Friday, 8 May 2026

Sponge City Collaboration by Hard-Pressed Collective

Sponge City, (details), Hard-Pressed Collective

While recently reviewing my blog I realized that I hadn't completed documenting this large scale installation project that I was a part of. It was instigated and curated by Celia Walker and created by members of Hard-Pressed Collective in 2024.

In light of recent storms across Aotearoa, New Zealand, and an item in recent news that sums up that we have endured 46 storms in the past 12 months, averaging a storm every 8 days (!!), the intent of this exhibition is more relevant than ever.

Sponge City Collaboration, by Hard-Pressed Collective, Depot Artspace, August 2024

A CRUEL TWIST or a GREAT MARKETING OPPORTUNITY

Also, as if we had summoned the weather to actively participate in the exhibition, a major weather event hit Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland during the exhibition and the gallery was inundated with flooding causing damage to the building. Fortunately and unbelievably, there was only minimal damage to a few of the artworks, and the exhibition was able to continue for a short time after the storm. The event did however provide us with the remarkable opportunity of being able to talk about the effects of storm events in real terms which helped to draw in more visitors and interest to the show and to the concerns we were highlighting.

Sponge City

A large scale collaborative print project

17 Augiust - 28 september, 2024

Depot Artspace,

28 Clarence Street, Devonport,

Auckland, NZ.

Sponge City flyer & catalogue cover

Sponge City was a group exhibition addressing urban resilience against the adverse weather effects of climate change. Through the artform of printmaking, this collaborative exhibition - delivered in partnership with Restoring Takarunga Hauraki (RTH) - addressed the recent extreme flooding that Tāmaki Makaurau had experienced in recent times and how this natural disaster impacted our communities.

"The collective is captivated by the idea of an absorbent environment, where plants replace concrete and wetlands revitalise waterways, slowing the flow of water and enhancing the urban environment.

In Sponge City they have created artwork in reflecting this environmental utopia by responding to these keywords: inundate, saturate, seep, absorb, detain, filter, purify and release. These terms articulate the process of creating a sponge city, which begins with an inundation of rain and ends with the release of clean water."

(Excerpt from the exhibition catalogue.)

Ina Arraoui, Celia Walker, Jude Gordon, Kheang Ov,
Di Smallfield, Bridget Burnett, Esther Hansen, Toni Hartill,
Nicola Ov and Toni Mosley (absent from photo).

About Hard-Pressed Collective

Hard-Pressed Collective is a group of printmakers from Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, New Zealand, with an interest in collaborative projects and ecology-driven installations. There is a shared aspect to printmaking unique to the medium, and this collective ethos, along with the ability to produce multiples, has enabled the group to extend their practice into large-scale assemblages. All have exhibited widely and many have been finalists in major national awards and selected exhibitions.

All of the artworks created for this exhibition were created by members of Hard-Pressed Collective, either individually or in collaboration with others in the group. We met together on several occasions to work on our pieces, to share our progress, and to interact and collaborate on pieces.

SCROLL DOWN to see some behind-the-scenes shots.

Current members

of Hard-Pressed Collective include:

Celia Walker, Toni Hartill, Toni Mosley, Ina Arraoui,

Kheang Ov, Nicola Ov, Di Smallfield, Jude Gordon,

Esther Hansen and Bridget Burnett.