Fiona Clark

Biography

Fiona Clark, Pat (Patricia) Robb, 1948 – 2012. Whitaker Place, Auckland, 1973, Pigment Inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl 310gsm, 390 x 390mm / 615 x 615 x 35mm frame, Edition 5 of 5

Fiona Clark, installation view of Malcolm Ross, Fiona Clark, Grant Lingard: Looking at Men, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Photo: Jennifer French

Fiona Clark, The Waitara Project, Installation view Te Tuhi Pakuranga, October 2020.

Fiona Clark, The Waitara Project, Installation view Te Tuhi Pakuranga, October 2020.

Fiona Clark, The Waitara Project, Installation view Te Tuhi Pakuranga, October 2020.

Fiona Clark, The Waitara Project, Installation view Te Tuhi Pakuranga, October 2020.

Fiona Clark, The Waitara Project, Installation view Te Tuhi Pakuranga, October 2020.

Fiona Clark, Brent Hamilton (Mr Junior New Zealand 1980, Mr Junior Iron Man 1980, runner-up Mr Junior New Zealand 1981) and Paul Huigendyke (third Mr Junior Iron Man 1980), Wellington, 1980 Vintage C-Type handprint on Agfacolor Paper 250 x 365mm Michael Lett, August 2019.

Dan Arps & Fiona Clark

Dan Arps & Fiona Clark, Installation view, Michael Lett, August, 2019.

Dan Arps & Fiona Clark

Fiona Clark, For Fantastic Carmen, Installation view, Artspace, 2016, Photo Sam Hartnett

Fiona Clark, Wayne, aka Miss K with Jennifer at Waynes 60th party. K. Rd., Auckland, 8th February 2014, 2015, colour photograph, 900 x 675 mm

Fiona Clark, Tina de Malmanche at home, Whakatane, 2002, 2002, digital ink jet print from transpaency, 515 x 585 mm (framed)

Fiona Clark, Living with AIDS, 1998, annotated colour photographs in album, annotated colour photographs, suite of 4 albums, each 600 x 660 mm

Implicated and Immune

Fiona Clark, Sheila and Belinda Lee at Mojos Night Club, Auckland 1975, 1975, coloured photographic print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, 273 x 191 mm

Fiona Clark, Diana, Mojos Nightclub, Auckland, 1975, 1975, coloured photographic print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, 243 x 161 mm

Fiona Clark, Go Girl, Installation view, Govett Brewster, 2002

Fiona Clark, Go Girl, Installation view, Govett Brewster, 2002

Fiona Clark, Ian Geraldine at Home, Auckland, 1975, 1975, coloured photographic print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, 243 x 161 mm

Fiona Clark, Diana and Sheila at Mojos, Auckland, 1975, 1975, coloured photographic print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, 273 x 191 mm

Fiona Clark, Diana and boyfriend, at Miss Drag Queen Ball, 1975, 1975, coloured photographic print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, 161 x 243 mm

Fiona Clark, Jackie at Mojos, Auckland, 1975, 1975, coloured photographic print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, 243 x 161 mm

Fiona Clark, The Waitara Project, Installation view Te Tuhi Pakuranga, October 2020.

Fiona Clark, The Waitara Project, Installation view Te Tuhi Pakuranga, October 2020.

Fiona Clark, The Waitara Project, Installation view Te Tuhi Pakuranga, October 2020.

Dan Arps & Fiona Clark, Installation view, Michael Lett, August, 2019.

Dan Arps & Fiona Clark

Fiona Clark, Wayne, aka Miss K with Jennifer at Waynes 60th party. K. Rd., Auckland, 8th February 2014, 2015, colour photograph, 900 x 675 mm

Fiona Clark, Living with AIDS, 1998, annotated colour photographs in album, annotated colour photographs, suite of 4 albums, each 600 x 660 mm

Implicated and Immune

Fiona Clark, Diana, Mojos Nightclub, Auckland, 1975, 1975, coloured photographic print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, 243 x 161 mm

Fiona Clark, Go Girl, Installation view, Govett Brewster, 2002

Fiona Clark, Diana and Sheila at Mojos, Auckland, 1975, 1975, coloured photographic print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, 273 x 191 mm

Fiona Clark, Jackie at Mojos, Auckland, 1975, 1975, coloured photographic print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, 243 x 161 mm

Fiona Clark

Born 1954, Inglewood (NZ). Lives and works in Tikorangi (NZ)

Fiona Clark’s photographs provide access to crucial forms of social history, often investigating the politics of gender, identity, and the body. For over four decades she has produced intimate and engaged images of bodies generally avoided by the public gaze, be they drag performers, professional body-builders, or people living with HIV.

While studying at Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland, between 1972-5, Clark developed a performance-based practice before moving into photography in her final year. Performativity and the politics of identity would prove to be concepts which informed Clark’s later work, and these interests indirectly led her to document Auckland’s drag and transsexual communities. These works provided the methodology for much of Clark’s later practice, especially in their emphasis on a collaborative approach and a sense of responsibility towards her images’ subjects, as seen in the then-controversial Dance Party series, which was subject to censorship after being included in the Auckland Art Gallery’s 1977 group show, The Active Eye.

Between 2002–2006 Clark exhibited a series of solo exhibitions, entitled GO GIRL, at public art institutions across Australasia, including at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin (2006); Whangarei Art Museum, Whangarei (2005); and the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth (2002). In 2016 Clark participated in the SIART 9 Biennale at Museo Nacional de Arte, Bolivia and produced the solo exhibition For Fantastic Carmen at Artspace Aotearoa, Auckland.

A feature-length documentary, Fiona Clark: Unafraid was released in 2021 and in 2023 Clark was made an Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi Laureate.

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Fiona Clark, Pat (Patricia) Robb, 1948 – 2012. Whitaker Place, Auckland, 1973, Pigment Inks on Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl 310gsm, 390 x 390mm / 615 x 615 x 35mm frame, Edition 5 of 5

Fiona Clark, installation view of Malcolm Ross, Fiona Clark, Grant Lingard: Looking at Men, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. Photo: Jennifer French

Fiona Clark, The Waitara Project, Installation view Te Tuhi Pakuranga, October 2020.

Fiona Clark, The Waitara Project, Installation view Te Tuhi Pakuranga, October 2020.

Fiona Clark, The Waitara Project, Installation view Te Tuhi Pakuranga, October 2020.

Fiona Clark, The Waitara Project, Installation view Te Tuhi Pakuranga, October 2020.

Fiona Clark, The Waitara Project, Installation view Te Tuhi Pakuranga, October 2020.

Fiona Clark, Brent Hamilton (Mr Junior New Zealand 1980, Mr Junior Iron Man 1980, runner-up Mr Junior New Zealand 1981) and Paul Huigendyke (third Mr Junior Iron Man 1980), Wellington, 1980 Vintage C-Type handprint on Agfacolor Paper 250 x 365mm Michael Lett, August 2019.

Dan Arps & Fiona Clark, Installation view, Michael Lett, August, 2019.

Fiona Clark, For Fantastic Carmen, Installation view, Artspace, 2016, Photo Sam Hartnett

Fiona Clark, Wayne, aka Miss K with Jennifer at Waynes 60th party. K. Rd., Auckland, 8th February 2014, 2015, colour photograph, 900 x 675 mm

Fiona Clark, Tina de Malmanche at home, Whakatane, 2002, 2002, digital ink jet print from transpaency, 515 x 585 mm (framed)

Fiona Clark, Living with AIDS, 1998, annotated colour photographs in album, annotated colour photographs, suite of 4 albums, each 600 x 660 mm

Fiona Clark, Sheila and Belinda Lee at Mojos Night Club, Auckland 1975, 1975, coloured photographic print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, 273 x 191 mm

Fiona Clark, Diana, Mojos Nightclub, Auckland, 1975, 1975, coloured photographic print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, 243 x 161 mm

Fiona Clark, Go Girl, Installation view, Govett Brewster, 2002

Fiona Clark, Go Girl, Installation view, Govett Brewster, 2002

Fiona Clark, Ian Geraldine at Home, Auckland, 1975, 1975, coloured photographic print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, 243 x 161 mm

Fiona Clark, Diana and Sheila at Mojos, Auckland, 1975, 1975, coloured photographic print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, 273 x 191 mm

Fiona Clark, Diana and boyfriend, at Miss Drag Queen Ball, 1975, 1975, coloured photographic print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, 161 x 243 mm

Fiona Clark, Jackie at Mojos, Auckland, 1975, 1975, coloured photographic print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, 243 x 161 mm