Ruth Buchanan: The Actual and Its Document

This exhibition showcases the work of Taranaki-born artist Ruth Buchanan (Te Ātiawa-Taranaki) from her recently completed the Govett-Brewster artist residency. During this three-month period of research Buchanan investigated the Govett Brewster’s collection, focusing primarily on the period 1970-1983.

These dates coincide with both the Govett-Brewster’s formation and the period of time that her family lived in the region. Buchanan considers collections a form of biography and as such she looked at the various systems of exchange, visibility, economy and power that play out through the story of one particular institution's approach to collecting.

Buchanan's exhibition comprises of a series of spatial and infrastructural interventions in the gallery space, alongside Collection works, reflecting on the complex history of the Govett-Brewster and its relationship to the city.

Image: ‘Why sell good pictures?’ (detail) The Sunday Express, vol. 920, April 18, 1982. Photograph: Ruth Buchanan and Bryan James.