Iteration 33 Be Happy
Liam Jacobson and Hanna Shim
Opening Preview: Saturday 8th November 6pm
Level 1, 466 New North Road, Kingsland, Tāmaki Makaurau
Dearest muth, mutha lovers, friends, and the curious,
You are warmly invited to our last exhibition of the year, opening this coming Saturday 8th November at 6pm. All welcome.
This iteration of our tendrilly project coils together the soft sculptural work of Hanna Shim and the heady words of Liam Jacobson, into a collaborative work, a portrait of Liam, and a tethering of Hanna to whenua.
Iteration 33 Be Happy, titled after one of Liam's poems written for this iteration, is a salve for your ulcer, a tincture for your condition. Perhaps it's a silly suggestion to Be Happy? or a light threat to Be Happy! but what better relief from these strange days, where the reigning paradigm doubles down squeezing us further and further into precarity, than to remember being happy.
Liam's words are accompanied by a protective suite of delicate silver manaia, and traces of their travels and of letter writing. The collected ephemera softly gauges the impulse to collect through moments of rarity and weirdness. Hanna has produced a pair of werewere-kōkako native blue mushrooms out of her fathers stained old jeans and shirts. Symbolising how her family has survived in this land, and running a laundromat, they tell a story of resilience and survival - of turning what's worn and faded, into something living and luminous. This dreamy iteration welcomes the weightless sporulation of local connection and togetherness, and the reciprocity of gift and friendship.
It is a delight to welcome Liam and Hanna to mothermother. Thank you to Taarn Scott and Rozana Lee for your respective invites... and so our river wends.
XO NAT
Liam Jacobson (Kāi Tahu) is a writer and maker from Tāmaki Makaurau, raised in Manurewa. Liam has performed across Aotearoa and overseas, including recently at Blue Oyster (2025) and Kia Mau Festival (2025). They’ve written for a range of galleries, including RM (2024), Blue Oyster and Pātaka (2024), Te Tuhi (2023) and Te Uru (2023). In 2023 Dead Bird Books published their book of poetry titled Neither, and a second book will be published in early 2026. Liam is currently facilitating Puku as the curatorial intern for Te Tuhi’s Parnell Project Space at Parnell Train Station.
Hanna Shim lives and works in Tāmaki Makarau. Born in Seoul, Korea, and raised in Auckland, Hanna identifies as a maker, working with various media to produce installations spanning soft sculpture, textiles, painting and moving image. Her practice is playful and delightful, at times whimsical and nostalgic but never far from the contradictory with imagery, objects, and stories drawn from her diasporic background. Hanna completed her MFA at Elam School of Fine Arts in 2015. She recently exhibited Answers to your Questions at Sanderson Gallery (2025), Pillow Garden at The Dowse Art Museum (2024) and Wishing You Well at Enjoy Contemporary Art (2022).
Image: Hanna Shim, Dad's (detail), 2025, recycled jean, cotton, poly fill, metal stand on wooden base, 420mm x 1700mm