Girls on Hope, Judy Darragh: 2017 Fundraising Exhibition

06 December to 09 December 2017. Free entry.

Girls on Hope, Judy Darragh

An exhibition and fundraising event presented by The Physics Room

Exhibition celebration: Wednesday 6 December at 5.30pm

Exhibition runs: Thursday 7 – Saturday 9 December (12 – 5pm)

49 Worcester Boulevard

For individual photos of each work please download the catalogue. Please contact Assistant Curator, Hope Wilson at hope@physicsroom.org.nz with all enquires. 

In Girls on Hope Judy Darragh presents a new body of work for a four-day only exhibition and fundraising event. At the centre of the exhibition is a specially commissioned series of 20 perfumes made in collaboration with Vanessa York from FLEURS DU MAL. Titled AMBUSH!, the perfume is evocative of Judy’s memories of Christchurch, where she grew up. The scent matches the pine trees, river, rocks, moss, spring blossoms, soil, and grasses that characterise the city.

Ever an artist to draw on the magic of the everyday AMBUSH! is an ode to Judy’s teenage years: her four girlfriends from high school¬—self-named the foursis— driving around Christchurch in her mother’s Morrie 1000, going to Rosalee’s Nightclub, sneaking into pubs like The Gresham and Mollet Street Market, and listening to Pink Floyd and Deep Purple. Times filled with plenty of hope and promise.

Accompanying each perfume is a hand-built glass sculpture resplendent with costume gemstones and a chained sherry glass, which neatly holds your bottle of AMBUSH!, as well as a unique gestural drawing. Proceeds from the sales will go towards The Physics Room’s 2018 Programme.

Judy has a long association with the development and running of artist-run and project spaces in Aotearoa, including ARTSPACE, Testrip, and Cuckoo. We would like to offer our sincere thanks to her for her generosity in supporting The Physics Room and for her ongoing support of the arts in Aotearoa.

Each edition of Girls on Hope is priced at $1200. Included in the price is one 20ml perfume produced by FLEURS DU MAL, a unique sculpture-cum-perfume holder, and one unique drawing.

About the Artist

Judy Darragh is a highly respected New Zealand artist renowned for her brightly coloured sculptural assemblages of found objects, recycled items, industrial materials, collage, photography, video, and poster art. Her practice came to prominence during the 1980s in an era of conspicuous consumption, into which Darragh modeled an artist who expanded with our views of material consumerism.

Judy Darragh lives and works in Auckland and played a significant role in the development of ARTSPACE, Auckland, the independent artist run space Teststrip, Auckland and Cuckoo. She was born in Christchurch, completed a Diploma in Visual Communication and Design at the Wellington Polytechnic and has taught at tertiary level for many years. She has exhibited widely and her works are held in various major collections including Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu, Christchurch; Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington; Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland; and Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth. In 2004 the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa featured a major retrospective of her work curated by Natasha Conland and entitled ‘Judy Darragh: So... you made it?’. Darragh is represented by Jonathan Smart Gallery, Christchurch and Two Rooms Gallery, Auckland.

About The Physics Room

The Physics Room is a contemporary art space dedicated to developing and promoting contemporary art and critical discourse in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Based in central Christchurch since 1996, we assist art practitioners with resources and opportunities to achieve a higher level of professional and creative development, and encourage a greater acknowledgement, understanding and value of contemporary art among New Zealanders. Our goal is to actively seek links between the arts and other areas of cultural production and to involve art as a contributing voice in wider intellectual, social and political debate.

The Physics Room is a charitable trust governed by a Board of Trustees.