Quarantine
Campbell Grant Gallery, Christchurch
24 Oct - 11 Nov 2000

This new series of paintings explores a range of diseases introduced into the Pacific Islands through European contact. The Quarantine series forms part of a larger statement about cultural issues of marginalisation which has been the basis for my earlier series, Mistints, Stigma and Wallflowers.

The white cube of the gallery space becomes a quarantine zone in which my virus paintings are isolated. The viewer, upon entering this quarantined area, is metaphorically exposed to contamination. They find themselves in the position of the Pacific peoples whose wellbeing was endangered through exposure to virulent European diseases and continues to be threatened today through sub-standard and overcrowded living conditions in areas such as South Auckland.

The theme of desecration is manifested in this series of work through the application of thick layers of white paint over a barkcloth or tapa ground. The barkcloth itself becomes a diseased surface upon which the infectious microbes multiply.