Opening February 7: Aliyah Winter, hardening

Aliyah Winter - hardening
8 February – 10 March 2018
Opening: Wednesday 7 February, 5:30pm
Matiu Island Walk Saturday 3 March (weather dependent)

Revisiting historical representations of gender and sexuality, Aliyah Winter’s artistic practice considers these personal and shared histories within our present moment. Incorporating moving image, performance and archival research, the solo exhibition hardening is part of an ongoing project by Winter that revisits the biography of Dr. Hjelmar von Danneville.

Born in Europe, Danneville lived in Te Whanganui-ā-Tara Wellington and worked at the Lahmann Health Home in Miramar during the early 20th Century. Well known locally for their eccentric dress, the doctor wore closely cropped hair, men’s shirts and jackets with skirts, and often partook in dry shaving. Their gender nonconformity, worldly experience and association with alternative medicine made the Doctor a highly suspicious person to local authorities during World War I. During this time, the Doctor was interned on Matiu Island in Wellington Harbour as a suspected ‘enemy alien’.

Drawing together the historical settings of Matiu and the Health Home at Miramar, hardening takes Danneville’s experiences as starting points for contemplating how health, healing, desire and belonging are understood within our contemporary social context.

The exhibition is presented during Wellington Pride Festival Tū Whakahīhī e Te Whanganui-ā-Tara and includes a walk with the artist on Matiu Island on Saturday 3 March (with the wet weather date of Saturday 10 March). Further details to be confirmed. The Island is accessible by ferry, and places are limited to 20 people. Please email comms@enjoy.org.nz to attend.

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