Summary

Harrison Freeth is an artist of German-Tongan, Sāmoan, and Scottish heritage, born in Ōtepoti and based in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Working across sculpture, installation, and drawing, his process-based practice is guided by curiosity, materiality, and open-ended learning. Freeth explores how elements of children’s play such as model-making, role-play, repetition, and symbolism extend into adult life as tools for navigating uncertainty and complexity.

Through themes of identity and belonging, his work reflects on how we come to understand the world; not by seeking answers, but by asking more questions. In this space of inquiry, the personal begins to blur with the collective, revealing how individual experiences both shape and are shaped by a larger shared history.

Freeth studied at Dunedin School of Art, graduating with a Bachelor of Visual Arts and a major in sculpture. His works are held in the collections of Canterbury Museum, Otago Polytechnic and the Wrightsman House.