“Ātete (to resist),” the first posthumous retrospective of one of New Zealand’s most significant modern artists, Ralph Hotere (1931–2013)—which after closing in Dunedin is now on view at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu¯—attempts to track the shimmering line of Hotere’s practice, not through a strictly chronological presentation but by loosely clumping together works with similar concerns. The show traces a subtle journey from pure forms of abstraction toward more overtly political pieces.

Hotere’s breakthrough work was the celebrated Black Paintings, 1968. In each of the seven panels,