Judith Ann Darragh (born 1957) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

artist who uses found objects to create sculptural assemblages. She has also worked in paint and film. Darragh is represented in a number of public collections in New Zealand. In 2004, The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa held a major retrospective of her work titled ''Judy Darragh: So... You Made It?''

Early life and education

Darragh was born and raised in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

. Her mother worked in a clothing factory and her father was a freezing worker. Darragh has described being surrounded by "the joy of making" in her home environment, and from an early age she enjoyed drawing and making things from craft materials such as

Fimo Fimo is a brand of polymer clay made by German company Staedtler (''STAEDTLER Mars GmbH & Co. KG''). Fimo is sold worldwide. Its main U.S. competitor is the American brand Sculpey. The material comes in many different colors; there are many fin ...

and

pipe cleaner A pipe cleaner or chenille stem is a type of brush originally intended for removing moisture and residue from smoking pipes. They can also be used for any application that calls for cleaning out small bores or tight places. Special pipe cleaner ...

s. Darragh studied graphic design, graduating from

Wellington Polytechnic Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural o ...

with a Diploma in Visual Communication and Design in 1978. Deciding that she was not "cut out for the (graphic design) industry," Darragh moved to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

where she gained a Diploma in Teaching from Auckland Secondary School Teachers College in 1980. She has described how her teaching career has supported her art-making and provided her with a sense of freedom in her practice.

Artist-run initiatives

In 1992 Darragh was one of eight artists who founded the

artist-run space An artist-run space or artist-run centre (Canada) is a gallery or other facility operated or directed by artists, frequently circumventing the structures of public art centers, museums, or commercial galleries and allowing for a more experimental ...

Teststrip Teststrip was an artist run gallery that operated in Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth larges ...

'' in Auckland. The artist-run space closed in 1997. Darragh then went on to start ''Cuckoo'', an artist-run project based in Auckland that was described as 'the artist-run space without a space' with four other artists in 2000.

Pornographic imagery

In 2013 Darragh exhibited 'Doctor, 2013' at

Gus Fisher Gallery Gus Fisher Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located in the Kenneth Myers Centre, a historic building restored in 2000 with the help of the gallery's patron, Gus Fisher (1920–2010). The gallery exhibits a reg ...

in the show A Different view: artists address pornography'''. The exhibition examined the impact of the

pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

industry on New Zealand society and sought to open up a conversation about the 'silent business'. The artwork which she exhibited in this show (''Doctor, 2013)'' was taken from a

Hustler Hustler or hustlers may also refer to: Professions * Hustler, an American slang word, e.g., for a: ** Con man, a practitioner of confidence tricks ** Drug dealer, seller of illegal drugs ** Male prostitute ** Pimp ** Business man, more gener ...

centrefold, then enlarged and printed onto a PVC skin which was a reference to the advertising industry. Previous work has also included assemblages with dildos (''Mussell Mirror'' and ''Flicker of Life, 1987''), as well as direct painting onto pornographic images using white-out.

Comic strips

In the 1980s under the alias Blossom, Darragh's

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

s were published in the New Zealand underground comic book series ''Strips''. Her comic strips have also been published in ''Three Words: An anthology of Aotearoa/NZ women's comics.''

Shrine series

Darragh developed her signature

kitsch Kitsch ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste. The avant-garde opposed kitsch as melodramatic and superficial affiliation with ...

aesthetic while living in Auckland in the 1980s, where she was working as secondary school teacher. She began making and selling domestic objects such as lamps and

mirror A mirror or looking glass is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror will show an image of whatever is in front of it, when focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the ...

s made from plastic plates at Cook Street Market and collecting bric-a-brac from markets, second hand shops and op shops. Her first assemblage works brought together these made and found objects into what she has described as "shrines". She was interested in exploring the distinctions between high and low culture and art and craft (particularly crafts that have been historically undertaken by women) and was influenced by

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

and his use of the readymade. Darragh first exhibited her art at

Artspace Artspace may refer to: * Artspace (website), an online marketplace based in New York City * Artspace, New Haven, an art gallery in downtown New Haven, Connecticut * Artspace Mackay, Mackay, Queensland, Australia * Artspace NZ, a visual arts cent ...

, in Auckland's George Fraser Gallery.

Honours and awards

In the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours, Darragh was appointed an

Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to the arts.

Collections

Auckland Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

Govett-Brewster Art Gallery The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is a contemporary art museum at New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand. The gallery receives core funding from the New Plymouth District Council. Govett-Brewster is recognised internationally for contemporary art. H ...

Christchurch Art Gallery The Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, commonly known as the Christchurch Art Gallery, is the public art gallery of the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It has its own substantial art collection and also presents a programme of New ...

Dunedin Public Art Gallery The Dunedin Public Art Gallery holds the main public art collection of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Located in The Octagon in the heart of the city, it is close to the city's public library, Dunedin Town Hall, and other facilities such as t ...

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

* Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato * Lincoln University Collection, Christchurch * Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua, Whanganui

References

External links

Judy Darragh's Website

Judy Darragh, Artist: Studio Channel Art Fair

Judy Darragh talk
at the SPARK International Festival of Media, Arts & Design at Waikato Institute of Technology, August 2012
Judy Darragh on Radio New Zealand Arts on Sunday
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darragh, Judy New Zealand women photographers 1957 births Artists from Christchurch Living people New Zealand women sculptors New Zealand installation artists 20th-century New Zealand sculptors 21st-century New Zealand sculptors 20th-century New Zealand women artists 21st-century New Zealand women artists Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit 20th-century women photographers 21st-century women photographers