Opening Weekend - Gary Cocker And Simon Gennard

To celebrate the opening of 'Set Dressing', curator Simon Gennard introduces the exhibition, and joins Gary Cocker in conversation about his work.

'Set Dressing' includes a series of photographs of Christine Hellyar’s Apron sculptures, which Hellyar commissioned Cocker to take in 1985. In the same year, Cocker’s work appeared in 'Queer Pictures', an exhibition organised by a group of gay and lesbian students of Elam School of Fine Arts.

Later in the 1980s, Cocker began exploring painting as a medium, and his artistic concerns shifted to consider his relationship with his Tongan ancestry. Cocker exhibited in a range of exhibitions with artists from around Moana Nui-a-Kiwa in Tāmaki Makaurau, before he retrained as a psychotherapist in the mid-1990s. At present, Cocker is based on Rakiura Stewart Island.

Image credit: Christine Hellyar, Tripe, photograph by Gary Cocker, 1985. Courtesy of Christine Hellyar.