Image: Gil Hanly, Jacqueline Fahey, Ponsonby home, May 2013 (2013), pigment ink on archival stock, 275 x 415 mm
Here We Are: Celebrating the Practices of New Zealand’s Artist Women
Ground floor galleries, 10 July – 2 September 2018
Opening Monday 9 July, 6-8pm
Upon entering Here We Are, you could be forgiven for feeling confused, for struggling to find the link between these, at times, disparate works. Confronted by a wildly varied selection, at first the link may seem tenuous. Examine the labels and it becomes clear. Emily Karaka, Liz Maw, Star Gossage. This is the artwork of women.
Rather than simply pigeon-holing female artists, the intention here is to accentuate the diversity of women's art, made from a non-male perspective. Surveying the wide scope of art practice - including painting, sculpture and photography - this exhibition is a celebration of the dynamic work of contributors to the Wallace Arts Trust Collection, who also happen to be women. By prioritising the artistic expressions of female makers, Here We Are sparks conversations about what it means to be a practicing female artist in New Zealand and recognises that there are distinct challenges that come with this label.
Selected from the Collection's 9000 works, on show are forty works by thirty New Zealand artists. In this non-hierarchical patchwork of female creativity, we see established names like Jacqueline Fahey and Gretchen Albrecht sharing the walls with early career artists, such as Nichola Shanley and Anna Perry. A space for these artists to say, Here We Are.
With this celebratory exhibition of works by female artists from our Collection, we commemorate 125 years of suffrage in New Zealand. Viewers are encouraged to walk away feeling invigorated about the legacy of this movement and urged to consider the question, where to from here?
Text by Marela Glavaš, Education and Public Programmes Manager, Wallace Arts Trust