Cathy Tuato'o Ross - 'Stand Still' - 5 August to 3 September 2022, Photospace / GMG - 37 Courtenay Place Wellington Aotearoa NZ

Cathy Tuato'o Ross - 'Stand Still' - 5 Aug-3 Sept 2022

This is Cathy Tuato'o Ross' tenth exhibition at Photospace Gallery since 2001. As you can tell, 'Stand Still' is not an exhibition of photography but it refers to the medium (see Cathy's notes below). Her previous exhibition at Photospace was 'Objects and Reasons' which featured digital photographic prints painted on - a mixed media exhibition. Since around then, Cathy has been a finalist in six out ten Parkin Drawing Prize finalist exhibitions in Wellington, including the 2022 exhibition (opening 1st August). She has entered works in a variety of mediums, including mixed media.

For these reasons, we're calling this a joint exhibition between Photospace Gallery and Gilberd Marriott Gallery (a parallel project we've been running in the same gallery rooms since 2008, allowing us to show artworks in mediums other than photography - to mix it up a bit and attract a wider range of viewers and artists to the gallery.

Artist's notes on 'Stand Still'

"The drawings in this body of work are largely based on formats borrowed from photographic studio set-ups of the early twentieth century. The photographic studio set-ups were largely based on formats inherited from paintings of previous eras. The technology has changed far more than the composition or even the intent. Despite the technical challenges of daguerreotypy, images were made of cats and dogs, for example. Cat and dog photos are still some of the most popular images in the digital era. Men are represented in power poses. Young woman are positioned to display their values and virtues, standing still or sitting in an attitude of repose. Politely. The conventions belong to the image maker/photographer, who had stock approaches to representing people of different ages, classes and ethnicities. My daughters and I have looked at studio portraits made in New Zealand/Aotearoa a hundred or so years ago, and have collaborated to make drawings referencing them, learning, at the same time, how you can think one way and appear another. It has made us question how much we can actually learn from historic photographs, beyond learning about studio practice and the public appetite for affordable portraiture. How much else has really changed over time? Technology has progressed."

'Stand Still' opens on Friday 5th August, 5pm-7pm. You are most welcome to come along.
Please wear a face mask.
Also showing:
Room 3: till13 August - Mike O'Kane - 'Changing Circumstances' (moved and reinstalled in Room 3)
Room 4 (office, and bar room for the opening) till 13 August - Max Oettli - 'Burning Shithouse and other vintage photographs'

'Young woman pictured with her favourite book' - mixed media work by Cathy Tuato'o Ross from 'Stand Still'

'A very good dog' - mixed media work by Cathy Tuato'o Ross from 'Stand Still'