Working Life

Working Life

Peter Quinn

Calder & Lawson Gallery
Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts - Te Whare Tāpere
The University of Waikato - Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

21 September – 13 November 2020

Curated by New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata

Artist talk: Wednesday 23 September, 1pm

Peter James Quinn, Ron “Sparrow” Sparks (left) and Mark Daily at the end of a shift at the Sullivan underground coal mine at Denniston on the South Island West Coast (1994). © Peter James Quinn

Peter James Quinn has been capturing images of New Zealanders at work over the length of the country for the past thirty years. Over this time, major shifts in what work looks like in New Zealand can be seen.

Work is a part of our collective and individual identities. We relate to others through the jobs they and we do, our workplaces and modes of work. Work, of all kinds, consumes a major part of our daily lives.

Working Life comes from the New Zealand Portrait Gallery Te Pūkenga Whakaata and was developed in association with Statistics New Zealand. It was originally shown at the end of 2019, and since this time the exhibition has unexpectedly opened up another layer of enquiry as we encounter major upheaval through the impact of Covid-19 on all aspects of work in 2020. From considerations of what is ‘essential’ work, through to what can be considered a work place, what work will still exist in a post Covid-world and the general insecurity felt in all areas of working life.