Free Pour was created out of playful curiosity during the final days of business at a South Auckland Foundry. A chance to push usual health and safety limits, precast aluminium forms were re-melted into a molten state and poured directly onto the ground. Boundless and free the molten metal escaped the confines of a preconceived mould. Recontextualised within the specific context of this show, Free Pour celebrates feminist waves which fought hard to deny the restrictive historical mould for the feminine, enabling the expectations and role of ‘mother’ to be fluid, non-conformist, raw and constantly reconfigured.

Melanie Ross works through a framework of material agency. Her ambitious works often rely on collaborative help to bring the raw remnants she collects into sculptural form. By juxtaposing found materials such as eroding asphalt, iron sand, and salvaged bronze, Ross challenges our assumptions of permanence and value. Materials retain a quiet insistence, expressing their own history and ecological memory. Ultimately, her large-scale, site-specific installations serve as relational spaces. They prompt viewers to confront the fluid boundaries of our physical landscape and acknowledge our profound, collective material responsibility. Melanie is a contemporary New Zealand sculptor based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Whitecliffe.