9 Nov 2026–25 Apr 2027

My Cruel Enemy Grazes On My Pain And Feeds Herself

Presented for the first time in Tauranga Moana, My cruel enemy grazes on my pain and feeds herself is an audiovisual inquiry into biopolitical relations that course through Aotearoa New Zealand’s agricultural history through one of its knowledge-producing organs: the archive. Bringing a scavenger methodology, Libeau revives audiovisual material from Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision and open access collections in Archives New Zealand, submitting various media to remediatory processes, and reconfiguring archival offcuts, fragments and debris to document agricultural systems of the mid-twentieth century. The artwork highlights and upsets normative notions of animacy and reproductive flow within the stomach of the colony – probing at capture, reproduction and biopolitical inscription, and possible gestures towards refuge and intimacy.

Artist Bios

Frances Libeau is an interdisciplinary artist and writer based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Their compositions, sound designs and writing feature across diverse platforms of contemporary art, film, theatre, music and dance. Libeau’s work often explores the hauntological potentialities of materials – and the possibilities for queering sonic compositional and archival practices. They are currently researching reproductive animacies in agricultural material cultures.

Their first solo exhibition was at RM Gallery in 2024, following an artist’s residency at Karekare House. A new audiovisual and sculptural installation, Lake of Wandering Spirits is being presented at Te Tuhi, 2026 in partnership with Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki – Auckland Arts Festival. They have previously collaborated on works with Sriwhana Spong, Owen Connors, Selina Ershadi, and George Watson.

(Photo: Jenna Todd)

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