Fiona Pardington: A Beautiful Hesitation

Explore themes of death, sex, flesh and the female gaze in Fiona Pardington: A Beautiful Hesitation at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. With more than 100 photographs on display, A Beautiful Hesitation is a comprehensive presentation of 30 years of Fiona Pardington's practice. Revealing the key elements that have helped to shape her work, the exhibition celebrates one of New Zealand's most notable photographers.

Pardington's majestic still-life works transform the traditional genre into something wondrously other. Her investigation of museum collections breathes new life into heitiki, natural-history specimens, life casts made on European voyages of discovery, death casts of French criminals and assassins, and much more. Pardington empowers and transform the found object through her photography. Her series One Night of Love re-presents photographs of female nudes destined for men's magazines, while The Medical Suite re-presents photographs of disease from medical textbooks. In all her work, the personal and political – and ways of looking and being – are thoughtfully intertwined.

We are piloting an app that offers exclusive content about some of the artworks in this exhibition. Download PingX from the App Store or Google Play for your touch, smartphone or tablet device – please ensure that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are turned on. If you are having any issues please ask one of our Gallery Assistants for help.

Image credits

Fiona Pardington 
My Mother's Roses, Pomegranates and Silver Platter of Ihumoana, Ripiro Beach 2013
courtesy of the artist and Starkwhite, Auckland

Fiona Pardington
Moonlight de Sade 2010
courtesy of the artist and Starkwhite, Auckland

Fiona Pardington
Still Life with Albatross Feathers, Pounamu and Coral Hearts 2014
Courtesy of the artist and Starkwhite, Auckland