Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery is pleased to present its first exhibition with artist Fiona Pardington. One of New Zealand’s foremost photographers, Pardington's solo exhibition of recent works will encompass some of the defining features of her practice: memory, mourning, beauty and sensuality. Her captivating images draw heavily on the European tradition of the vanitas or momento mori painting, where the luxury and opulence of the material world is undermined by the imminence of decay. Pardington meticulously composes each study by using found objects imbued with their own history, such as rediscovered family heirlooms or native botanical items. Life, death, longing and loss are all intertwined in these photographs. 

Fiona Pardington has exhibited widely since 1989. Recent exhibitions include Contact at the Frankfurter Kunstverein, Germany in 2012, the 2012 Ukraine Biennale and the 17th Biennale of Sydney curated by David Elliot in 2010. Her work is represented in several major international museum collections including the Musee du Quai Branly, Paris, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C and in New Zealand the Christchurch Art Gallery, The University of Auckland, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Auckland Art Gallery and Govett Brewster Art Gallery.

Fiona Pardington -