Andrea Gardner has lived in Whanganui, New Zealand since 1995. She was born in California and completed a BFA at the University of California at Santa Cruz and a MFA in Painting from the University of Iowa. She has lived in numerous places including Montana, New York City, and Rome, Italy. She works primarily in photography and mixed media sculpture. Her work is in the collections of The Dowse Art Museum, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the Sarjeant Gallery and the James Wallace Trust. She is also involved in collaborative outdoor sculpture installations with her partner Brit Bunkley. 

Her work explores concepts around identity, selfhood, the subconscious and the psychological tension found in female experience. Through staged photography she is interested in juxtaposing the familiar with the unexpected to create unexpected narratives which might be playful, absurd, poetic, enigmatic or uncertain.

“In my current photos I have inserted myself into the compositions, usually in some form of disguise using clothing, paint, glass, wigs, masks, cardboard and paper shapes, etc. Because the face is usually hidden the female figure becomes more anonymous and universal. 

My process is akin to going down a rabbit hole, a metaphor for being transported into a wonderfully strange or troubling surreal state or situation. The ambiguity in the photographs leaves room for interpretations that can be psychological, aesthetic, feminist or environmental. At times there is a theatrical and performative quality.

While I am at Espacio Lavadero I intend to explore the geometric patterns found in Islamic architecture as well as the gestural qualities in flamenco dance. I am also attracted to the dotted fabric of traditional flamenco dresses and the designs in local fajalauza ceramics. My in-studio photography will be an intuitive response to the rich environment of Granada”.