Fiona Clark, Pan Pacific Womens' Body Building Championship posing, Auckland 1981. Courtesy the artist and Michael Lett.
Photo Credit
Taranaki artist Fiona Clark is a leading figure of New Zealand photography. Owing much to a social documentary tradition, Clark is known for her intimate, arresting photographs that explore issues around the representation of marginalised and under-represented communities.
The title, Raw Material, hints at untreated or unedited material, and makes reference to the exhibition’s focus on a careful selection of materials from Clark’s extensive archive. The exhibition draws together various bodies of work, including films and documentation of Clark’s female personae produced by the artist as a student in the Sculpture Department of Elam School of Fine Arts. It includes photographs from Clark’s bodybuilding series, first exhibited at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in 1981. This period, from 1972 into the early ‘80s, was foundational for Clark’s artistic practice, and transformed her earlier reputation – up to that point, she had been known principally as a dancer.
The selected works and archival material are united by Clark’s interest in performance and the non-verbal language of the body (placement, posture, gesture). The concept and organisation of the exhibition itself functions as a non-linear timeline or a network of relations, making reference to the importance and use of the archive as a way to discuss different histories. Interwoven with personal commentary and texts, Raw Material offers a side to this important artist that normally remains unseen.
Taranaki artist Fiona Clark is a leading figure of New Zealand photography. Owing much to a social documentary tradition, Clark is known for her intimate, arresting photographs that explore issues around the representation of marginalised and under-represented communities.
The title, Raw Material, hints at untreated or unedited material, and makes reference to the exhibition’s focus on a careful selection of materials from Clark’s extensive archive. The exhibition draws together various bodies of work, including films and documentation of Clark’s female personae produced by the artist as a student in the Sculpture Department of Elam School of Fine Arts. It includes photographs from Clark’s bodybuilding series, first exhibited at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in 1981. This period, from 1972 into the early ‘80s, was foundational for Clark’s artistic practice, and transformed her earlier reputation – up to that point, she had been known principally as a dancer.
The selected works and archival material are united by Clark’s interest in performance and the non-verbal language of the body (placement, posture, gesture). The concept and organisation of the exhibition itself functions as a non-linear timeline or a network of relations, making reference to the importance and use of the archive as a way to discuss different histories. Interwoven with personal commentary and texts, Raw Material offers a side to this important artist that normally remains unseen.
