NZ photographer to receive prestigious French Honour

New Zealand photographer to receive prestigious French Honour

In a rare honour, photographer Fiona Pardington will be named a Knight (Chevalier) in the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres) by the French Prime Minister, Manuel Valls, in a ceremony at Auckland War Memorial Museum on 1 May.

Pardington is the first New Zealand artist to receive this honour.

Ms Pardington learned of the honour when a representative of the French Embassy phoned her last week to inform her.

“I was in complete shock and am still trying to comprehend that I have received such an enormous honour. Of course, this award is not just for me but also the team of people that have been so supportive of my practice”.

Other recipients include George Clooney, Olafur Eliasson, Cate Blanchett, Uma Thurman, Tim Burton, Rudolf Nureyev and William S. Burroughs.

The Order of Arts and Letters (Ordre des Arts et des Lettres) was established in 1957 to recognize eminent artists and writers who have contributed significantly to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world.

Ms Pardington is receiving the award for her extraordinary, in-depth photographic work and research of the collections held in multiple French Museums. In 2009 she was awarded the Quai Branly Laureate award; La Residence de Photoquai. This was Pardington’s second prestigious French residency, following her Moet et Chandon Fellowship in 1991-92. The New Zealand Government gifted a suite of nine photographs of heitiki from Okains Bay Maori and Colonial Museum series (2002) to the Musee du Quai Branly for their opening in 2006.

During her Laureate, which she completed in 2010, Pardington created several bodies of work from the various museum collections; the most renowned being The Pressure of Sunlight Falling where Pardington photographed the casts taken by eminent French phrenologist Dumoutier who was on board Dumont d’Urville’s voyage through the Pacific in 1837–1840.

The museums Pardington worked with during her time in France are Musee du quai branly, Paris; Musee l’Homme (Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle), Paris; Musee Flaubert et d’Histoire de la Medecine, Rouen and Musee National d’Histoire Naturelle (Musee Barla), Nice.

“I could spend a decade without scratching the surface of these collections so I hope I am granted the privilege to access their collections again.”

A major retrospective of Fiona Pardington’s work, titled A Beautiful Hesitation, is currently on display at the Auckland Art Gallery until June 19 featuring several works documented from French museums. A coinciding publication has also been released, bringing together new and classic writings on the artist’s work, published by Victoria University Press.

Fiona lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand.

ENDS

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