Bouquet

Eleanor Cooper

The Blue Oyster Art Project Space
16 Dowling Street, Dunedin

6 March 2020 - 13 June 2020

Cooper’s work often articulates aspects of landscape neglected by Western traditions of the scenic and picturesque. In doing so, it seeks to recreate landscape as a rich terrain of sensory experience, narrative and belonging.

Drawing on personal experiences as a field ranger in nature reserves, Bouquet presents new sculptures and photographs that recollect first-hand encounters, traces of human interaction and ecological findings. Delving into various pockets of land managed by the Department of Conservation––including the “earthly paradise” of Sir George Grey on Kawau Island and the marine mammal breeding grounds in the Subantarctic Islands––this project illuminates some of the beliefs and cultural imperatives that have both produced and upheld the conservation estate in Aotearoa.[1]

Eleanor Cooper is an artist, writer and field ranger for the Department of Conservation. In 2019 she completed the MFA programme at the University of Auckland, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) and Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy) in 2012. She has exhibited widely within Aotearoa including at City Gallery Wellington, Hastings City Art Gallery, Mokopōpaki, Artspace, Split/Fountain, RM Gallery, The Physics Room and Objectspace, as well as providing written contributions to a number of publications including Argos Aotearoa and the recently published Pipi Press publication In Common.

Bouquet is presented as part of the 2020 Dunedin Fringe Festival programme.