Bio
Born 1962 in Devonport, New Zealand. Lives and works in Wellington, New Zealand. Holds a BFA from the University of Auckland and is of Kai Tahu, Kati Mamoe, Kati Waewae Māori and Pākeha descent. Recipient of the 2011 Marti Friedlander Photographic Award - New Zealand's most prestigious award for photographers.
Neil Pardington is a narrator with an eye for detail whose images reveal the cultural and psychological implications [of institutional spaces, such as hospitals and museums]. While proclaiming a certain documentary objectivity, the intriguing aspect is the artist's selectivity, the subjective response to each given location. In turn, the subtle shift from seduction to the revelation of an underlying, disturbing dimension, alerts us to the cold hard realities of any given situation, to the subjective nature of everyday life and the paradox of photography itself. [...] This is typical of Pardington's practice to date. All of his work plays on the fact that pictures have to be something more than their subject, something other than that depicted by the lens - they become spaces for projection and contemplation. [..] Pardington's works reveal how photography and digital processing are ways of conjuring realities. While their own ‘reality' may only exist in the photographic moment, as ‘unreal' or ‘distanced' views of the ‘real' world they purposefully broaden our ways of seeing and bring us face to face with humanity.
Ewen McDonald (from Contemporary New Zealand Photographers).
Neil's commitment to the use of defined themes is reflected through his production of works in series, with seven of these completed in the past decade. His most recent, The Clinic (2003-5), Rehutai (2005) and The Vault (2004-9), all focus on hidden spaces that are inaccessible to the public - from postmortem rooms and operating theatres to the vast array of collection spaces in museums. While these groups of works might appear at first to have been created with an emotionless, objective eye, it soon becomes evident that the territories traversed by Pardington are highly charged and aligned to subjects that provoke a strong response.
In parallel to his photographic practice, Neil has also produced, written and directed a number of short films and is a director of design agency Base Two.