A Beautiful Hesitation

Overview

Fiona Pardington considers each of her photographs to be 'a sovereign world', offering the viewer an uneasy, dreamlike experience. She uses the phrase 'a beautiful hesitation' to describe photography's power to arrest time and to alter our relationship with what a photograph both places under our gaze and withholds from it. Throughout her career, she has brought forth some of the most haunting, affecting and challenging photographs made in – and, often, about – our country. Fiona Pardington: A Beautiful Hesitation showcases the work of one of Aotearoa New Zealand's most important and celebrated photographers. Covering thirty years, it is the most comprehensive publication of her work to date. Fiona Pardington: A Beautiful Hesitation includes newly commissioned essays, a substantial interview and an archive section including earlier significant texts.

Author Biography

Fiona Pardington (b. 1961) is a photographer of international reputation. Of Scottish (Clan Cameron of Erracht) and Maori (Kai Tahu, Kati Mamoe, Ngati Kahungunu) descent, she has exhibited widely in Australasia and in France at the Musée du Quai Branly. She has a Doctorate in Fine Arts from the University of Auckland and has received many fellowships, residencies, awards and grants, including the Moet & Chandon Fellowship (France) in 1991–92, the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship in 1996 and 1997, the Ngai Tahu Residency at Otago Polytechnic in 2006, and an Arts Foundation Laureate Award in 2011. She is represented by Starkwhite, Auckland.