10 July 2024
A new exhibition celebrates the work, activism and legacy of UK artist Derek Jarman, while also teasing out his connection to Aotearoa New Zealand.
Derek Jarman: Delphinium Days will be presented at The Dowse Art Museum in partnership with City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi from 28 September 2024 to 26 January 2025.
City Gallery Wellington Senior Curator Aaron Lister says Derek Jarman (1942-1994) is one of the most important and influential figures in twentieth century British culture. He was an early campaigner for the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community and people living with HIV and AIDs. Jarman courageously put that battle and his own experience at the centre of his work to challenge normative culture and reigning neoliberal politics of his time.
“Jarman connects to Aotearoa through his father Lancelot who was born in Canterbury in 1907. Though he never set foot in Aotearoa following his father’s return to Britain, Jarman’s familial and imaginative connection to this country is present in his writing and contributed to his love/hate relationship with a modern Britain under conservative political leadership.”
Derek Jarman: Delphinium Days marks 30 years since the artist passed away from an AIDS-related illness at the age of 52.
The exhibition has been co-developed by Gus Fisher Gallery and City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi. It is co-curated by Lisa Beauchamp, Curator of Contemporary Art at Gus Fisher Gallery, City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi Senior Curator Aaron Lister, and Michael Lett. It is on at Gus Fisher Gallery from 15 June to 14 September.
The Wellington exhibition includes the addition of Jarman’s final film Blue (1993), described by Lister as “one of the most moving and transformative works of art I have ever experienced”. Completed just before Jarman’s death, this profound and haunting meditation on living with HIV and impending death takes the form of a 75-minute wash of Yves Klein’s ‘International Klein Blue’ accompanied by a soundtrack featuring Jarman’s poetry and excepts from his hospital diaries, spoken by regular collaborators Tilda Swinton, Nigel Terry, John Quentin and Jarman himself.
It also adds an accompanying exhibition Beautiful Flowers and How to Grow Them, featuring experimental portraits in film and photography made by Ōtautahi Christchurch artist Paul Johns between 1975 and 1980.
Jarman is perhaps best known today as a pioneer of experimental film, while his fusing of art and activism is especially important in the development of many queer artistic practices. Perhaps his most enduring legacy is his garden and former home of Prospect Cottage in Dungeness, a refuge and retreat that fuelled his creativity and has become a site of pilgrimage for visitors worldwide.
The exhibition will be presented at the Dowse Art Museum, as City Gallery leaves home temporarily at the end of June, because of disruptive construction work in Te Ngākau Civic Square. Lister says the shift to the Dowse creates opportunities, and he is especially interested in teasing out the ways that the exhibition aligns with the Dowse’s programmes and communities.
“The Dowse’s current exhibition House of Dowse X Jimmy D is curated by James Dobson, the acclaimed designer behind cult local fashion label Jimmy D who is a huge Jarman fan. Drawing out these sorts of connections allows us to ground Jarman’s art in the here and now, linking those film, art, fashion, queer, music and activist elements of Jarman’s work which makes it so resonant right now.”
An accompanying screening programme, delivered in partnership with the Wellington Film Society, will show Jarman’s feature films. These screenings are part of an expanded public programme that will be staged across Wellington city and the Dowse which seek to connect Jarman’s work and legacy to Aotearoa New Zealand. This public programme has been supported by The British Council New Zealand and the Pacific.
Country Director British Council New Zealand and the Pacific Natasha Beckman says the British Council is thrilled to support the public programme for Derek Jarman: Delphinium Days.
“Bringing the work of Jarman from the UK to Aotearoa New Zealand, it draws out resonances and connections between the two countries – his art and activism was bold, confrontational, and, above all, courageous. This exhibition and public programme will celebrate the power of Jarman’s work to speak so powerfully both in and about its own times, and also to the here and now of contemporary Aotearoa.”
Derek Jarman: Delphinium Days has been funded with the lead support of Tony Kerridge and Micheal Do, with additional support of City Gallery Wellington Foundation, the Delphinium Days Exhibition Circle and the British Council. With thanks to the Keith Collins Will Trust and Amanda Wilkinson, London.