Whekau Laughing Owl, 2004
C-type print mounted on dibond
Unique presentation
160 x 120 cm

artist profile

Fiona Pardington

born

1961

lives and works

Devonport, New Zealand

education

BFA, Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland University, New Zealand, 1984
MFA, Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland University, New Zealand, 2003

about the artist

Equipped with a virtuosity in the formal techniques of analogue as well as digital photography, Fiona Pardington deftly crafts her own catalogue of still-life portraiture. Her subjects range from Maori greenstone pendants to now-extinct avian species, from South Pacific life casts to ordinary silk flowers. Through her lens, these inanimate objects undergo a resurrection—an allegorical dialogue traces its path through lost histories, forgotten memories, and nameless lives. Pardington has been honored with an impressive litany of accolades, which include the Moët & Chandon Fellowship, the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship, and the Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award, among others. She has held solo shows throughout New Zealand, and has participated in group museum exhibitions held at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki in Auckland, the Christchurch Art Gallery in Christchurch, and the City Gallery Wellington in Wellington, New Zealand; as well as the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane, Australia, and the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France. 

  • Selected exhibition history
  • Permanent collections
  • Projects
  • Editions
  • Publications
  • Recent news

2011GROUP A Wake: Still Lives and Moving Images, Momentum, Berlin, Germany

GROUP Tender is the Night, City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand

2010GROUP 17th Biennale of Sydney, The Beauty and the Distance - Biennale of Sydney, Australia

GROUP 21st Century: Art in the First Decade, Gallery of Modern Art - Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia

GROUP Roundabout, City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand

2008GROUP We are unsuitable for framing, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, New Zealand

GROUP The Ecologies Project, Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne Australia

SOLO Journey of the Sensualist: selected photographs 1987 – 2008, Tauranga Art Gallery, New Zealand

2006GROUP Within Memory: Aspects of New Zealand documentary photography 1960-2000, City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand

2003GROUP Te Puawai O Ngai Tahu, Christchurch Art Gallery, New Zealand

GROUP Pressing Flesh, Skin, Touch, Intimacy, Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tamaki, New Zealand

2002GROUP Slow Release: Recent Photography from New Zealand, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, VIC, Australia and Adam Gallery, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand

2001GROUP Au Kaha Kia Kaha ; Strengthening the Bindings of the Earth, of the People, of the Soul, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand

GROUP Purangiaho: Seeing Clearly, Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tamaki, New Zealand

GROUP Prospect 2001 New Art New Zealand, City Gallery Wellington, New Zealand

SOLO One Night of Love, Waikato Museum of Art and History, Hamilton, New Zealand

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, New Zealand

Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu, New Zealand

Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand

Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, France

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand

Gallery of Modern Art - Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia

University of Auckland Art Collection, New Zealand

Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection, New Zealand