2009 - Francis Upritchard
Francis Upritchard, 2008. Photo courtesy of Francis Upritchard.
Core Team Members
Commissioner: Jenny Harper
Deputy Commissioner: Heather Galbraith
Curators: Heather Galbraith, Francesco Manacorda
Project Manager: Tanea Heke
Exhibition Attendants
Veronica Green, Simon Glaister, Julia Holdernes, Marnie Slater, Robyn Pickens, Thomasin Sleigh, Shelley Jahnke-Bishop, Frances Loeffler, Serena Bentley
Project Publication Francis Upritchard: Save Yourself
Editor: Heather Galbraith
Contributing Writers: Heather Galbraith, Francesco Manacorda, Melanie Oliver
Designer: Kalee Jackson
Publishers: Francis Upritchard: Save Yourself project team and the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.
New Zealand’s participation at the Biennale Arte 2009 was titled The Collision and comprised two exhibitions: Francis Upritchard’s Save Yourself and Judy Millar’s Giraffe-Bottle-Gun.
Save Yourself by Francis Upritchard included clusters of figures and structures spread through three chambers within the Fondazione Claudio Buziol at the Palazzo Mangilli-Valmarana overlooking the Grand Canal.
Upritchard used the palazzo’s ornate mirrors to backlight and reflect table-height scenes of figures, illuminated by hand-made lamps. The figures were quasi human: figurative and yet small enough to be dolls; so highly coloured as to suggest they may have come from another world. Each grouping occupied an imaginary landscape from an indeterminate historical period. The installation combined the antique and futuristic, making the scene both familiar and unsettling.
Save Yourself was located a short distance from Judy Millar’s Giraffe-Bottle-Gun.
Both Francis Upritchard’s and Judy Millar’s installations returned to New Zealand in February 2010 for a four month exhibition at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Works from both were purchased by the museum for the national collection.
More on the artist
Francis Upritchard was born in New Plymouth and graduated from Canterbury University's Ilam School of Fine Arts in 1997. She has exhibited extensively in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and the United States and now lives in London.
She had major museum solo shows at Hammer Museum, Los Angeles in 2014, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin in 2013; Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, Japan in 2013; Nottingham Contemporary in 2012; and Vienna Secession in 2009.
Jealous Saboteurs at City Gallery, Wellington in 2016 was the first major survey exhibition of Francis Upritchard, spanning 20 years of work. The exhibition was a joint project between the gallery and Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne.
In 2006 Francis Upritchard was the winner of the Walters Prize, New Zealand's most prestigious contemporary art prize.
New Zealand at Venice Logo 2009. Design: Practise.
Francis Upritchard, "Save Yourself", installation view, 2009. Photo: Andy Stagg.
Francis Upritchard, "Save Yourself", installation view, 2009. Photo: Andy Stagg.
Francis Upritchard, "Save Yourself", installation view, 2009. Photo: Andy Stagg.
Francis Upritchard, "Psychic Pushing", 2009. Photo: Anna Arca courtesy Kate MacGarry, London.
Francis Upritchard, "Save Yourself", exhibition catalogue, 2009. Design: Kalee Jackson. Photo: Bryan James. Courtesy of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery.