ROGUE & VAGABOND
2021
You can read the artist’s statement below.
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- Beatrice Alias Frances Theft Insubordination In Inebriates’ Institution 1929 & 1938 • (SOLD)
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- Dulcie 1930 • Oil and Wax on board • 30 x 30 cm • (SOLD)
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- Jane Theft 1927 • Oil and Wax on board • 30 x 30 cm (SOLD)
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- Margaret Housebreaking Entering And Theft 1927 • (SOLD)
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- Maka Alias Alice Theft Escape Idle And Disorderly 1923 • $4300 • Oil and Wax on board • 120 x 120 cm
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- Ivy False Pretences 1924 • $1500 (Diptych) • Oil and Wax on board • 30 x 60 cm
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- Elizabeth Prositution 1943 • (SOLD)
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- Elizabeth Alias Alexander Alias Frank False Pretences 1935 • $840 • Oil and Wax on board • 30 x 30 cm
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- Eileen 1923 • Oil and Wax on board • 30 x 30 cm • (NFS )
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- Catherine Alias Madame Theft And Recieving 1911 • Oil and Wax on board • 60 x 60 cm
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- Phyllis Alias Jean Theft Indecent Language 1924 • Oil and Wax on board • 120 x 120 cm (SOLD)
Margaret,-incorrigible-rogue • 1909 •
Oil and Wax on board • 120 x 120 cm • (SOLD)
Florence Permitting A Brothel On Premesis 1943 • (SOLD)
Rogue & Vagabond Artist’s Statement
The inspiration for this collection came from seeing some old New Zealand mug shots in a police exhibition. I discovered a reference to these being published in the Police Gazette and learned that the Police Gazette between the 1877 and 1945 was in the public domain and available online in the National Library’s Papers Past, an unbelievable resource of New Zealand papers.
In the Police Gazette after 1907 I found mugshots of released prisoners. They were mostly men, which for me made the outliers – the women – even more fascinating. The photos are strangely emotional but because of the need to stay still for so long due to the primitive camera technology, you can catch only a glimmer of what the subject may be feeling.
I wanted people to know these human and vulnerable women – they were loved by someone and they loved someone. It’s quite different from imagining the prisons of the past: when you get to see people’s faces, you can’t help but connect in some small way to their lives.
Many of the women I painted were repeat offenders, trapped in a cycle of prisons and reformatories. They are women whose lives have been hidden from family histories, their stories cleaned up, their real lives and hardships buried. It made me think that we may all have someone in our family tree that no-one’s telling the truth about.
I came to this exhibition in a completely different way from my two previous solo exhibitions and for a completely different reason, but I’ve ended up in the same place. It’s the stories that get me – there’s so much story in their faces even without knowing any more about them.
