Monday 25 June 2018 10:48am
Ava Seymour, Corstorphine Queen, 1998, coloured digital print on zinc, 7420 x 9120mm from the ‘Health, Happiness and Housing’ series, P2001-018, courtesy of the artist and Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hākena – one of the items on display as part of the Primary Care exhibition.
From health promotion and disease prevention, to institutional architecture, patient care, and treatment, the connection between art and health will be explored in Primary Care – an exhibition opening at Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hākena this week.
The exhibition brings together a selection of artworks, photographs, ephemera and archival materials largely gathered from across its collections.
"... the exhibition represents a range of approaches to health and wellbeing, and developments in the medical field."
Each piece considers aspects of physical, spiritual, community, mental and public health.
Curator Art - Pictorial Collections Andrea Bell says pieces are included by renowned artists Simon Denny, Giovanni Intra, Robyn Kahukiwa, Robert Rauschenberg, Ava Seymour, Ann Shelton, Heather Straka, Lionel Terry, Robin White and more.
“With works relating to health promotion and disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment, patient education, deinstitutionalisation, community care, and Māori health, the exhibition represents a range of approaches to health and wellbeing, and developments in the medical field,” she says.
One particular artwork which continues to resonate is Ava Seymour’s Corsorphine Queen from her 1998 series Health, Happiness and Housing. Using photographs of state houses from around New Zealand, overlaid with distorted collage figures, the work suggests the deterioration of the social dream of state housing.
Also included is one of Dunedin Public Hospital’s most treasured artworks by Robin White, with a simple message carried in the work’s title: Your health is your wealth.
Come along:
Primary Care
30 Jun to 25 Aug, Mon to Sat, 10am to 5pm
Hocken Collections, Uare Taoka o Hākena, 90 Anzac Ave, Dunedin