She’s a Chevalière of the French Order of Arts and Letters and is a self-employed artist.
One of New Zealand’s leading photographic artists, in 2011 she was awarded a New Zealand Artist’s Laureate Award to acknowledge her success within the arts, both in New Zealand and internationally over the past 30 years. This month Pardington was awarded the distinction of Chevalière des Arts et des Lettres by the Prime Minister of France. Manuel Valls, when he visited New Zealand. It’s the equivalent of an English Knighthood.
Pardington says, “Recently my photographs have returned to the formality of the photographic still life, particularly in relationship to taonga Maori (treasured) artifacts found in museum collections here and in France. I am presently working on, amongst others, a project for The First Honolulu Biennale, curated by Fumio Nanjo - which will open in March 2017.”
Who is your partner? What do they do?
I’ve been single for what seems like an aeon. I don’t think it would be easy for anyone to fit in to my life. I don’t want to cook, care or clean for anyone these days, but if someone wants to do that for me whilst I work and be my arm candy at openings, on the condition they buy me Victorian jewels, love me passionately and generally worship me in any way I see fit, they can apply for my serious consideration through my assistant, Chantelle Smith. A vet would be nice.
Do you have any grandchildren?
Thankfully not yet. I still haven’t got over the effort of raising my own precious, darling spawn Akura and Jack-Rahi.
Do you have any pets?
In the paddock down from the house there are 12 pukeko - one has one leg. They all line up in the morning for chook chow along with the chickens. Eighteen outdoor chickens, some of whom I will be divesting to interested parties: I have striking Araucanas and Araucana x Barred Rock roosters and pullets, plus some random yet beautifully composed crosses from two black chooks that ran away from the neighbours. Araucanas lay blue eggs. Two specially-abled young indoor chickens called Peagle, who is an unusually small and strangely shaped Araucana with a balance problem as well as Frou Frou the Polish bantam. I have two dogs; a black Griffon x miniature poodle called Freud and a white Lowchen called Baku. Pluto, my daughter’s Chihuahua, is with me often.
I have a young male cat rescued from under a bus up the road recently, he was dumped. His name is Mahina. He loves to sing the song of his people in the dead of night when he catches large rats, presenting them to me as gifts as I rouse from sleep. I adore him. He is an Insta-cat, I just added catfood and removed testicles. He has all the dogs, cats and birds under control, and sleeps in a Victorian wicker baby basket.
I have two African grey parrots, a free-range, free-flighted male named His Feathered OverLord Morpheus Gray. Gray thinks I’m his girlfriend, he’s a jealous boyfriend who has a large vocabulary and is a knockout mimic. Lavender, my female African grey is deeply in love with my son Jack-Rahi. The third bird is Tommy, a rescued male eclectus who was a skinny, shaky, shabby feather duster who fell off his perch five times a night and had nightmares and a hugely overgrown and deformed beak when I got him; he now is calm, iridescent and strong with a correctly shaped beak growing at the right speed. I have friend and avian specialist Brian Gartrell to thank for that.
How do you keep fit?
Chasing the chickens and sparrows out of the house. Stretching to counteract the large amount of time I spend on a computer these days. So really, not enough by a long shot.
Your best friend would say of you...
“Are you out of unicorn jail yet? Please stop working and come over for a dinner, I have Champagne.”
Your mother would say of you...
“You look like your father.”
What are your virtues?
Drinking Champagne.
And your vices?
Not drinking Champagne.
Who’s your ultimate rock icon?
At the moment, I can’t choose between David Bowie and Prince.
What’s your secret passion?
The powerful fantasy I harbour is this: buying and equipping and then supporting the running costs of an enormous, new, very fast ex-Navy warship for Sea Shepherd. I’d name it the Dorothy Furley, after my maternal grandmother.
What’s your secret talent?
The inability to fold anything neatly.
Where do you live?
Te Henga, but it’s temporary. As close to a West Coast beach as possible will be the next move. However, my mother’s family going back five generations have always lived in Devonport and Ponsonby, so I’m also considering Ponsonby, but not for another five years.
Where do you spend your holidays?
At home, working. I’m travelling constantly this year to photograph: Australia many times, here, museums in America and Lausanne, I’m exhibiting at Paris Photo later this year. So in a sense there’s a little bit of holiday in every serious photographic expedition I undertake.
What’s your perfect Sunday?
I usually work all Sunday, but a siesta with the dogs on the studio’s long Italian leather lounge suite in the afternoon listening to Arvo Pärt, letting his aural unblemished radiance wash over me. Or just one cheeky Hendrick’s and tonic whilst listening to Deep House and considering which unicorn comes next, and on which background. Both activities are a treat for the soul.
What were you going to be when you grew up?
An artist. I decided when I was six years old. For a while there I toyed with archaeology. My mother wanted me to be a nun.
How did you come to be an artist?
It was part of the ongoing resolution, implemented when I was six.
If you weren’t an artist you’d be..?
Running an animal rescue shelter.
Which is your favourite Ponsonby Cafe?
Orphans Kitchen
Your favourite Ponsonby restaurant?
Orphans Kitchen
Your favourite Ponsonby store?
Foundation North, 50 Ponsonby Road. Our community trust, Foundation North, has an endowment of over a billion dollars to support all the good things that community organisations and not-for-profits do in Auckland and Northland. That’s why, if you’re looking for funding to do something in our region, you should talk to them.
Which is your favourite Ponsonby fashion label?
Carlson. I wear Carlson at all my important events, and then every other day of the year. If I ever get married, I’ll be a Carlson bride (something deeply fabulous in bruised crimson or abyssal black). I have instructed my lawyer to make sure I’m buried in a suitable Carlson gown from my collection. Everything else, and everything in between is Carlson. As you can see, I’m a very loyal customer.
What is your best-kept Ponsonby secret?
My mother and father were the first couple married in the new All Saints Church in Three Lamps.
What has inspired you recently?
Pre 1960s genuine Murano glass unicorns. You should see my collection - some of the mythical critters are transcendental, and some rapturously hideous. Keep an eye out for me! Vintage Murano unicorns are rare as hens’ teeth. My show ‘100% Unicorn’ opens 26 May at Starkwhite. That’s the tip of the unicorn iceberg, I’ve only just scratched the surface of my collection.
Name your desert island distractions:
Assuming I have a solar powered charger (which I do) I would be slowly picking off my reading list within my rather impressive virtual library of vintage and contemporary occult books, on my iPhone6+.
The house is on fire and your family is safe - what do you save?
I’m surmising by ‘family’ that includes my three parrots, two dogs, two cats and two specially-abled chickens. Then it would have to be my cache of my professional photographic negatives and my family photographs and negatives.
“I’d be lost without my...”
Glasses. Can’t see more than five inches in front of me. Dreadfully myopic, with an astigmatism.
One thing you have learned about life is...
Change is the only constant.
Your advice to Ponsonby art lovers?
My survey exhibition ‘A Beautiful Hesitation’ is on at Auckland City Art Gallery until 19 June. Be there or be square. I hear on the grapevine that its the go-to first date destination for teenagers right now. My large and luxurious survey publication is also available at the bookshop there. It’s a glittering jewel in the diadem of my practice, designed and printing overseen by my brother, graphic artist and photographer Neil Pardington. I’m the luckiest sister in Aotearoa having a brother of that design calibre at my side.
Your advice to young Ponsonby people aspiring to work in the art ‘industry’:
Gather your allies around you and treat them well, as you yourself would like to be treated, with respect and genuine affection. The life of an artist can be a relentless and gruelling march, best not attempted alone. Practice gratitude on a daily basis, always be humble and remember art is a 24/7, 365 days of the year vocation if it’s to be done well. Research thoroughly, and under no circumstances plagiarise other artist’s work. In the end, you’re only fooling yourself. It is a degrading deception that the best collectors, artists and critics can pick a mile off. As well as indulging in the unpleasant activity of making money from another’s hard work, it immediately disqualifies you from any serious consideration as an artist. Nobody likes a cheat. Never be jealous or deflated by an other artist’s success, congratulate them, but always keep your eyes fixed firmly on your own practice. Never compare yourself to another. Only you can be you. Innovation comes from taking risks on a daily basis. Be brave. Don’t ever sit on your laurels.
FIONA PARDINGTON www.fionapardington.blogspot.co.nz