Judith Ann Darragh (born 1957) is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

artist who uses

found object A found object (a calque from the French ''objet trouvé''), or found art, is art created from undisguised, but often modified, items or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made, often because they already hav ...

s 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 (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

. Her mother worked in a clothing factory and her father was a freezing worker. Darragh 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 fi ...

and

pipe cleaner A pipe cleaner, otherwise referred to as a chenille stem or furry wire 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 bo ...

s. Darragh studied graphic design, graduating from

Wellington Polytechnic Massey University () is a public research university in New Zealand that provides internal and distance education. The university has campuses in Auckland, Palmerston North, and Wellington. Data from Universities New Zealand shows that in 2024 ...

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 ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

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, New Zealand from 1992 to 1997. History In late 1992 the artists Kirsty Cameron, Judy Darragh, Gail Haffern, Giovanni Intra, Denise Kum, Lucy Macdonald, Daniel Malone and Mery ...

'' in Auckland and this would run until 1997 wherein the space was closed. 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 owned and operated by the University of Auckland in Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is loca ...

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

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

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 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 Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

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 Naivety, naïve imitation, overly eccentric, gratuitous or of banal Taste (sociology), taste. The modern avant-garde traditionally opposed kitsch ...

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 Lamp, Lamps or LAMP may refer to: Lighting * Oil lamp, using an oil-based fuel source * Kerosene lamp, using kerosene as a fuel * Electric lamp, or light bulb, a replaceable component that produces light from electricity * Light fixture, or ligh ...

and

mirror A mirror, also known as a looking glass, is an object that Reflection (physics), reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror forms an image of whatever is in front of it, which is then focused through the lens of the eye or a camera ...

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, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...

and his use of the

readymade A found object (a calque from the French ''objet trouvé''), or found art, is art created from undisguised, but often modified, items or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made, often because they already have ...

. Darragh first exhibited her art at Artspace, 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 r ...

, 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 New Plymouth () is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, in ...

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 ...

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. Usually known as Te Papa ( Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand ...

* Waikato Museum Te Whare Taonga o Waikato * Lincoln University Collection, Christchurch *

Sarjeant Gallery The Sarjeant Gallery at Pukenamu, Queen's Park Whanganui is a regional art museum with a collection of international and New Zealand art. It was closed for 10 years for redevelopment and re-opened on Saturday 9 November 2024. In 2024 it was anno ...

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 1957 births Artists from Christchurch Living people New Zealand installation artists 20th-century New Zealand sculptors 21st-century New Zealand sculptors Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit 20th-century New Zealand women photographers 21st-century women photographers 20th-century New Zealand women sculptors 21st-century New Zealand women sculptors