Ed Hanfling
Otago Harbour, 1978, an “intimate map”
by Joanna Margaret Paul
R00m F209 Puna Kawa, F Block
Otago Polytechnic, Forth Street
Dunedin
Wednesday 20 March 5:30 pm
Joanna Margaret Paul, Otago Harbour, 1978.
Synthetic polymer paint and collage on paper, 535 x 740 mm.
Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hākena, University of Otago, acc. no. 78/205.
Otago Harbour is a picture in the Hocken Collections made by Joanna Margaret Paul in 1978. It is, in large part, a lively acrylic-painted and pencil-drawn view, or views, of Dunedin from the top of Southern Cemetery, Mornington, with collage additions – notably, a cropped reproduction of Johannes Vermeer’s Milkmaid (c1660), a scrap of still life drawing and a carefully sliced aerial photograph of the part of Dunedin represented in the painted view. In combining different modes of representation, Otago Harbour has much in common with a series of works Paul called “Intimate Maps.” Paul draws attention to the subjective or contingent act of representing place, rather than place as an objective fact, and exhibits a curiously contemporary sense of intimacy with, or embeddedness in, her environment. This seminar presents a detailed analysis of a complex picture, considering its significance in the context of other bodies of work by Paul (including her photographs and films) and New Zealand art history.
Ed Hanfling holds the position of Lecturer in Art History and Theory at Dunedin School of Art. He writes regularly as a critic for Art New Zealand, and has published journal articles and books on such topics and artists as modernism in New Zealand art, values and judgements, Morris Louis, Milan Mrkusich and Ian Scott. His recent publications include 250 Years of New Zealand Painting (Bateman 2021) as co-author, and as co-editor, a special issue of the Journal of New Zealand Studies, “Art and Aotearoa New Zealand: Cultures, Controversies and Histories,” forthcoming December 2024. He currently serves as co-editor of Junctures: The Journal for Thematic Dialogue.
