Fiona Pardington's Beautiful Hesitation

Fiona Pardington
A Beautiful Hesitation
Curated by Aaron Lister
Auckland Art Gallery
March 5 - June 19

What is this Beautiful Hesitation? The title of Fiona Pardington’s survey show at the Auckland Art Gallery frames the beginning and conclusion of the photographic process.

At the beginning, it is the decisive hiatus when the photographer has finally framed and chosen an image just before the picture is taken. Then there is that beguiling moment when we look at a photograph and realize that it is more than a mere snapshot or recording of an image; that the photographer has captured something that has depth and meaning not only for the photographer but also the viewer.

It is that beautiful hesitation for the artist and the viewer, which adds a new dimension, captures an emotion, links multiple ideas and raises the photograph to an artwork. This hesitation, both moment of truth and sudden awareness is present in the photographs of Fiona Pardington in this huge collection of photographs where we also find the photographer herself intruding into the subject and our perception of them.

Her work, particularly the early images has always seemed to have a personal connection to family, friends and taonga. Even when she embarks on other explorations, the images always relate to her personal, social, cultural and political concerns. This means that the exhibition can be read as a slowly evolving body of work in which the artist explores her personal, spiritual, physical and moral environment.

The exhibition has a group of early photographic works, with images of herself and family, including several of her grandmother who featured in some of her major later works and, throughout the exhibition, there are other figure studies, which include her children, partners and friends.

In some of her more recent works, she creates upside down images of almost mythical Maori, which owe something to the German artist Georg Baselitz’s upside down portraits. Linked to these photographs of family is the group of Hei Tiki. They are presented as members of her extended historical family rather than as ethnographic studies.

Even some of the studies of birds appear to be considered as acquaintances as much as mere studies. Tui Mountain, a photograph of a tui from the rear, looks more like a cloaked human form than a bird.

One set of works is mounted in heavy black frames, so they look like old master still life works. A couple of these have been printed on to a gesso ground, the ink permeating the surface so that they do not have to be glazed and so look like meticulously painted works. Even with these works can be found a personal connection with one of the works featuring a small handwritten note to the artist, along with a greenstone pendant gifted to her.

The show includes one of the biggest collections from her One Night of Love series, which is based on a collection of negatives she found. The series of soft porn images of women was rejected by magazine editors but given a new life by the photographer presenting them partly as found objects but individuals in their own right.

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