Panel Discussion
Chaired by Johanna Mechen
Saturday 5th August
1 - 2:30pm
Gallery
Free
From L-R Johanna Mechen, Bronwyn Polaschek and Kate Stevens West. Dianna Thomson, Zoe Thompson-Moore and Philippa Doyle.
This panel explores how 13 cross-disciplinary creatives collaborated over a year. Featuring Bronwyn Polaschek, Kate Stevens West, Dianna Thomson, Zoe Thompson-Moore, Johanna Mechen and Philippa Doyle
Artists biographies
Johanna Mechen
Johanna Mechen works with stills, moving image and poetry in the telling of personal, ecological, historical and culture stories. These stories explore the relationship between modalities of lens-based making and performativity in research collection, often asking groups or individuals to play a role by participating or collaborating in her storytelling. She looks in particular at how time investment though volunteering and labouring, can enrich artistic investigation and make connections within communities. Her work comes from a meditation on the medium and its multifaceted nature, as well as a desire to extend photography’s ability to communicate lived experienced and invisible stories both through and beyond its many processes.
Zoe Thompson-Moore
Zoe Thompson-Moore/piecewerk (Pākehā) lives in Te Awakairangi ki Tai Lower Hutt with her family. An artist around the block, she can usually be found in the backyard gleaning inspiration from the loose-parts-play of neighbourhood kids and tending the beloved community compost heap. For more information on the artist: www.zoethompsonmoore.com
Kate Stevens West
Kate Stevens West (Kāi Tahu, Pākehā) is an artist who mostly draws and paints, but she does love scissors and the way they slide through the contents of the recycling bin. Her practice revolves around family, those long gone, and those still at her feet. After a long stretch pouring energy into her four children, she resumed a creative practice and her work is now in public and private collections around New Zealand. Recent work explores Kāi Tahutaka, working with historical research, traditional paints and pigments. A solo exhibition will be held at Bowen Galleries later this year.
Dianna Thomson
Dianna Thomson (Pākehā/Tauiwi) is a photographer who grew up in
Whakatu, Nelson, now based in Te Awa Kairangi, Lower Hutt, Wellington. She likes pushing the boundaries of traditional family photography into the realm of documentary. She is intrigued by capturing and exploring relationships as they unfold, always seeking or the moments in-between moments.
Bronwyn Polaschek
Bronwyn Polaschek writes non-fiction about things she’s interested in – feminism, popular culture, especially film and celebrity, as well as the experiences of mothering, teaching, and ordinary life. She is the author of The Postfeminist Biopic and has published work about Amy Winehouse, solo mothers in NZ cinema, a beloved homemade teddy bear, and most recently in Headland, the ethical quandaries of buying a new velvet jumpsuit. Bronwyn is an English and Media Studies teacher at Onslow College. She lives with her husband and three children on a hill in Te Whanganui-a-Tara.
Philippa Doyle
Philippa Doyle (Pākehā - nō Netherlands, nō Northern Ireland) lives in Northland, Te Ahumairangi, Whanganui-a-Tara with her family. She is a Textile Artist, mother of three adult children, a volunteer for Good Bitches Bake, a soup maker for those having a tough time, a recovering Public Servant and an adoptee. Philippa uses textiles as a way of marking both the small and the big events of life – all significant in their own way.
Dirty Laundry
29 July - 25 August
Dirty Laundry brings together thirteen artists and writers to explore and express their experience of invisible labour: painter & designer, Kate Stevens West; somatic practitioner, Rachel Ruckstuhl-Mann; essayist, Bronwyn Polaschek; poets, Cassie Ringland-Stewart & Mary Walker; digital artist & photographer, Johanna Mechen; photographer, Dianna Thomson; painter, Hana Carpenter; installation artists, Caitlin Rose Donnelly & Zoe Thompson-Moore & personal non-fiction writer, Holly Walker.
