Image credit: A.A.M. Bos, Avian Shits, 2023
Courtesy the artist and Mokopōpaki, Auckland
A.A.M. Bos, Carole Prentice, Dr P
Colonial Road
20 April – 2 July, 2023
AV Gallery, Little Gallery and Conservatory
1 July: Wild Colonials: Field Trip With A.A.M. Bos
Ever wondered what’s at the end of Colonial Road? It’s not a carpark or failed monument to imperial ambition but more a surprising, self-determined community of seabirds living in sight of the city. A.A.M. Bos’ film Colonial Road (2020) is an intimate, uncensored, harbourside view of the lives and crimes of The Real Shags of Chelsea Heritage Estate.
Colonial Road is a three-artist exhibition including new work by Northland-based painter Carole Prentice, exploring family history and personal connection with place. Featured on the ground floor in the elegant Conservatory is another indoor garden landscape by Dr P, where, this time, her non-standard domestic exterior imagines an avian Breakfast Room just prior to the arrival of the morning mail.
‘The most well observed, sensitive and compassionate picture imaginable’ – Ted Coubray, Romantic and Sea-Girt North Shore (1928)
Please note: The exhibition by Dr P in the Conservatory is open for three weeks only, closing Sunday, 14 May 2023.
Colonial Road is accompanied by an exhibition catalogue, co-published by Mokopōpaki and Pah Homestead.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
A.A.M. Bos lives in Auckland. His work investigates marginal urban ecosystems and habitats. Although the artist loves and admires the birds he photographs, A.A.M. Bos does not tweet. Or do Facebook. Mokopōpaki exhibition history: Colonial Road, 2020; Domestic #3: Ahimaru, The Dutch Embassy, 2019; WARY—A Survey, 2018; Whio: Blue Duck, Other Perspectives, 2017.
Carole Prentice is a baker’s daughter from Panmure. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2001 from Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland. Her paternal great grandfather, Jean-Baptiste Grondin from the French overseas territory of Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean, arrived in Auckland in 1884, the same year Chelsea Sugar Works began operating a refinery on the North Shore. Carole says her love of ‘something a little sweet’ is inherited from her exotic French ancestor and their shared cultural passion for patisserie and all matters choux. Mokopōpaki exhibition history: Colonial Road, 2020; Household Hints: Ahikaea, 2019; Nīkau Delicatessen, 2018; Korekore Whakapiri, Other Perspectives, 2017.
Dr P aka Cushla P is not a doctor or a dentist. Disregarding her mother’s sound career advice, she is neither a lawyer nor a plumber. Dr P is an occasional writer, indoor landscape garden designer and General Secretary of the Mokopōpaki Exhibitions Committee (MMPK). Mokopōpaki exhibition history: Colonial Road, 2020; Domestic #3: Ahimaru, 2019; This Joyous, Chaotic Place: He Waiata Tangi–ā–Tahu, 2018.