Liona Iesha Justine Whiu

Notes on Collapse

Department of Failure examines systems of control, order, and meaning. The works borrow the visual language of institutions, stamps, stickers, and bureaucratic phrasing, to explore how authority maintains itself through repetition and structure. Each painting imitates the look of order, yet nothing within it functions as it should.

I’m drawn to the moments when structure starts to fall apart, when systems built to create order begin to contradict themselves. Failure isn’t a mistake here; it’s the point of entry. It exposes how authority depends on repetition and how quickly that repetition becomes absurd. The humour in these works comes from recognising that tension, the way things keep trying to hold together, even when they’ve already come undone.