Flora Photographica Aotearoa

Overview

Spring may be well and truly over, but thanks to art’s ability to preserve beauty, we can appreciate New Zealand’s finest flora and fauna all year round. As a part of the Auckland Festival of Photography, the Depot Artspace presents some of New Zealand’s best floral photography. With works by the renowned Lawrence Aberhart, Greta Anderson and Derek Henderson, each of whom has done extensive work with botanical scenery, the exhibition explores flower motifs and a wide variety of different plant and flower species. Themes of formalism, repetition, lyricism and metaphor run through the works, and our physical co-dependence on plants and their environment is illustrated.

Associate Professor Ann Elias, from Sydney College of the Arts at the University of Sydney will be guest speaking. She has a PhD from the University of Auckland, in which she investigated the history of still life and flower painting New Zealand botanics, so you could call her an expert on the subject. Ann has published several artist’s books, including the exhibited Peter Peryer, who she will be interviewing during her talk. Peryer is a leading contemporary photographer, who also graduated form the University of Auckland. He will be discussing his range of works that are displayed in major art museums in New Zealand as well as elsewhere over the globe.