Film Archive curator-at-large Gareth Watkins
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The Film Archive is thrilled to introduce their 2014 Curator-at-Large, Gareth Watkins.
Gareth is a documentary maker and photographer. He has spent over twenty years in the radio industry, producing numerous award-winning documentaries - including portraits of composer Douglas Lilburn and poets Alistair and Meg Campbell. His portrait photography has featured in a number of publications and appears in the collections of the National Library of New Zealand and the Wallace Arts Trust.
He will curate a series of four exhibitions built around footage from the Film Archive's collection during 2014.
Gareth’s first exhibition, PET (14 Feb - 12 April), will explore the playfulness and love offered by, and given to family pets. Animals have been captured on film since the earliest days of the moving image. This exhibition will draw on the Archive’s large home movie collection to create a homage to the family pet.
The second exhibition (17 April - 14 June) will examine HIV AIDS in New Zealand. 2014 marks the 30th anniversary of the first person to die in New Zealand from AIDS related conditions. The exhibition will highlight the early years of HIV AIDS, and look at ways people cared for loved ones and ultimately remembered them.
The third exhibition (19 June - 16 Aug) looks at a variety of “tricks n treats” and how they are represented in moving images. As societal attitudes change, how do we frame activities like gambling, drinking, smoking, prostitution and drug use in New Zealand?
His final exhibition (21 Aug - 18 Oct) will focus on the farewelling of New Zealand troops.
The Film Archive Curator-at-Large initiative, which was born in 2012, invites emerging curators to explore the Archive's 160,000 title collection and present it to the public in new and creative ways. In 2012 artists Jenny Gillam and Eugene Hansen were appointed as Curators-at-Large; they oversaw the production of new video art inspired by footage in the Archive's collection. In 2013 writer Tina Makereti curated a series of exhibitions on the history of childhood in New Zealand.