Frog World builds on Abigail Aroha Jensen’s exhibition Inside my papahou: puoro tuatini. Her site, Désirée - ā whakamātao owha, commissioned by Te Tuhi and the Busan Biennale Committee for Busan Biennale 2024. This work brought together field recordings of taonga pūoro resonating through the ruins of the Tokomaru Bay Freezing Works, alongside a series of concrete boxes featuring objects and traces from Jensen’s own papahou (treasure box), such as a pāua shell saved from her first meal in Busan or lipstick kisses.
Frog World continues Jensen’s conceptual exploration of papahou as the carrier from which she creates and learns. While in Busan for Busan Biennale 2024, she participated in a puppet-making workshop led by the Indonesian artist collective Taring Padi, where she made a cardboard frog.
In Frog World, Jensen presents an upscaled version of the frog she made in South Korea, which has travelled with her ever since. Inside are fragments of her own world —perfume cards, pill boxes, a handbag—ephemeral objects collected during her travels. Together, they transform the frog not only into a giant papahou, but a theatre: an expanded vessel for everyday taonga collected through acts of life. The work is accompanied by a 12-channel “sonic tukutuku” which is how she frames her sound practice. Frog World is scored from recordings gathered by Jensen in South Korea, Japan, Thailand and Aotearoa, as well as recordings sent to her by her Instagram followers.
→ Join the opening event (Saturday 28 February, 4–6pm)
About the artist
Abigail Aroha Jensen is an artist who lives in Kirikiriroa, Hamilton. She holds a BMA from Waikato Institute of Technology with Honours from Toihoukura, School of Māori Visual Arts. Recent exhibitions include: cab–sous vide, The Dowse Art Museum (2024); Inside my papahou: puoro tuatini. Her site, Désirée - ā whakamātao owha, commissioned by Te Tuhi and the Busan Biennale Committee for the 2024 Busan Biennale; Glittering Images, Grace Aotearoa (2024); Spring Time is Heart-break: Contemporary Art in Aotearoa, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhteū (2023); Old/Niu, A Drawing Showcase with Māpura Avondale Artist Group, All Goods Artspace (2023); Rope Play (I-IV), sites across Tāmaki Makaurau, Pōneke and Köln (2022-23); R.Boudoir, RM (2022); Ata Koia!, Te Tuhi (2022); Te Pō, Papatūnga (2022). She was the recipient of the 2025 Caselberg Trust Residency in Dunedin, and of the 2025 Gasworks Residency in London.