Ann Shelton’s exhibition the missionaries continues her in-depth exploration of the powerful and complex relationships between colonisation, nationalism, feminism and plants, within the context of Aotearoa. In Shelton’s striking photographs she creates carefully composed plant arrangements set against the musty colour palette of the 19th century Arts and Crafts movement. These domestic botanical epitaphs engage the reasons emigrants brought plants with them to Aotearoa—how these plants fostered a sense of ‘comfort’ by transplanting something familiar to an unfamiliar landscape, and creating a sense of control over their environment. But these arrangements also address the consequences of these interventions, ecologically and environmentally, on the fragile ecology of Aotearoa.

Shelton’s photographic still lifes examine the everyday uses, contemporary consequences, lost narratives and histories of these plants. In particular, they examine the intersections of these histories with Falling stars, inherited forms human knowledge systems, with Western notions of home building and with colonising strategies that continue to be exerted through the organisation, trade, aestheticisation and distribution of plants.

Ann Shelton was born in Timaru, and completed a Master of Fine Arts in 2001 at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, following a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Elam School of Fine Arts, the University of Auckland, in 1995. She is currently Honorary Fellow in Photography at Whiti o Rehua School of Art, Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa, Wellington. Her works are included in public and private collections throughout Aotearoa and America.