International showing for powerful exhibition

The seeds for this success were scattered long ago, when a young student sat writing an essay about an artist’s garden in the UK.

The creator of the garden, the subject of the essay– and the focus of the exhibition – was British artist Derek Jarman, world renowned not only as a brilliantly innovative painter, writer, filmmaker, set designer and gardener, but also as a potent and courageous voice for truth at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the Eighties, when homophobic prejudice and vitriol were rife.

The student writing the essay was Lisa Beauchamp, now Curator of Contemporary Art at the University's Gus Fisher Gallery, who has vivid memories of her first encounters with Jarman’s art and writing, having been lucky enough to experience his paintings “in the flesh”.

“Jarman’s work has an incredibly visceral power that I really connected with,” she says. “I was too young to have lived through the upheavals of Thatcher’s era, but through his work I could really feel the tumult of those times.”

Lisa, of course, was the driving force behind the exhibition, Derek Jarman: Delphinium Days, which opened in both Auckland and Wellington last year, marking the 30th anniversary of Jarman’s death from an AIDS-related illness. It is now open for three months to an even wider audience at UNSW Galleries in Sydney, the University of New South Wales flagship gallery.

Co-curated by Lisa, along with Aaron Lister, Senior Curator at City Gallery Wellington, and Michael Lett, the show was a powerful introduction to Jarman’s full range of work for the many New Zealanders who knew him mainly through his avant-garde films. It displayed many paintings and other work never seen before in this country, as well as a wealth of photos giving an intimate account of his life. Photographer Howard Sooley, who was a trusted friend of Jarman’s, helped make a selection of his work for the show, including intimate shots of Prospect Cottage and Jarman’s garden in Dungeness.

This exhibition was the first to highlight Jarman’s New Zealand connection. That his father was born and grew up in this country is little known and has not been referenced in other exhibitions.

“His relatives came to see the show from all over New Zealand,” says Lisa. “For many, it was their first chance to see his original work.”

A unique international show of this kind is a huge challenge to mount, and it couldn’t have happened without its lead donors, Tony Kerridge and Michael Do, and the Delphinium Days exhibition circle and sponsors.

Its busy public programme – of workshops, discussions, and a full weekend of Jarman’s films at The Capitol Cinema – was made possible through the support of the Burnett Foundation Aotearoa and The Capitol Cinema.