Born 1967 in Timaru Te Tihi-o-Maru, Aotearoa New Zealand. Lives in Te Whānganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
(SHE/HER/HERS)
Ann Shelton is recognized as one of New Zealand’s leading photographic artists. Her most recent work engages with plant narratives and histories, in particular the intersection of these histories with human knowledge systems. Shelton is interested in how the perceived power play between plants and humans can be questioned, redefined, and modified through questions that urgently come into play as we move deeper into the era of the Anthropocene.
Ann Shelton received her MFA from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada and her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, New Zealand. She lives in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, New Zealand, and is an Honorary Research Fellow in Photography at Whiti o Rehua, School of Art Massey University. Shelton’s most recent solo exhibitions include: i am an old phenomenon at Denny Gallery (New York, NY), an invitation to dance at Two Rooms Gallery (Auckland, New Zealand), the missionaries at Aigantighe Art Gallery (Timaru, New Zealand), Mother lode at Bartley and Company Art (Wellington, New Zealand), jane says at Denny Gallery (New York, NY), and Dark Matter at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (Auckland, New Zealand) which toured to Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū (Christchurch, New Zealand). Notable group exhibitions include Flora Imaginaria at Museum of Botany / Marie Selby Botanical Gardens (Sarasota, FL), Home is Where One Starts From at Fotografia Europea (Reggio Emilia, Italy), Mareikura; Wahine beyond Suffrage at Pataka Art Museum (Porirua City, New Zealand), Primary Care and The Order of Things at Hockens Collections, Uare Taoka o Hakana, University of Otago (Dunedin, New Zealand). Shelton has participated in Images Recalled, Germany’s largest photographic biennale, Photo 2021, Biennale of Photography in Melbourne, Australia, and the Singapore International Photography Festival. Her works are included in public and private collections throughout Aotearoa, New Zealand and the United States. Shelton’s work has been extensively written about and reviewed in publications including Artforum, Hyperallergic, Journal of New Zealand, Pacific Studies, Artnet News, The Art Newspaper, and The Evergreen Review. She will have her first institutional solo exhibition in the USA at The Alice Austen House Museum, New York in 2024. Ann Shelton is represented by Denny Gallery (New York) and Two Rooms (Auckland, New Zealand).
Ann Shelton is a leading New Zealand photographer whose work has been widely acclaimed and is held in public and private collections in New Zealand and overseas.
A new group exhibition at the University of Auckland’s contemporary art centre Gus Fisher Gallery unravels the trope of the witch as a guiding figure through which dissidence is pinned.
Join Ann Shelton and Victoria Munro, the Executive Director of the Alice Austen House, as they discuss Shelton’s current show at Denny Dimin Gallery and Shelton’s upcoming exhibition at the Alice Austen House in 2024.
Ann Shelton’s photographic series, an invi-tation to dance, sees eight flowers immaculately presented—staged.
Ann Shelton in ‘Flora Photographica: Masterworks of Contemporary Flower Photography’, a showcase of flower photography by the world’s leading photographers.
Ann Shelton’s Mother Lode
For contemporary artist Ann Shelton, ikebana is medium for messages.
Ann Shelton, A Spoonful of Sugar first reprint.
Inspired by the Japanese art of flower arrangement, ikebana, Shelton has carefully shaped various flora—sticks, moss, flowers, seeds—into striking compositions that she photographed against bright monochromatic backgrounds.
“A Lovers’ Herbal” is Shelton’s first solo show since New Zealand legalized abortion (for up to twenty weeks’ gestation) in March 2020. This web presentation, dense with information, displays new photographs from “jane says,” a short video interview, ikebana book images, and texts that detail the links between colonialism and the suppression of herbal medical knowledge.
Artist Ann Shelton and Critic Claire Voon will be in conversation about the artist’s current virtual exhibition “A Lovers’ Herbal” at Denny Dimin Gallery.
Ann Shelton’s new work ‘an invitation to dance’ was commissioned by Photo Australia and the Metro Tunnel Creative Program for PHOTO 2021.
A new exhibition by one of New Zealand’s most lauded lens-based practitioners Ann Shelton explores female experiences of representation, control, fertility and trauma.
Photography is a bit of a bitch. It has been a willing accomplice in this whole imperialist project.
Ann Shelton’s brightly colored photographs of exquisite floral arrangements, on view now at New York’s Denny Dimin Gallery, aren’t just beautiful—they also carry a hidden meaning.
Denny Dimin Gallery has launched its Tribeca space with a show of fertility-focused photographs by the New Zealand artist Ann Shelton, jane says.
Shelton’s thoughtful brand of feminist flower arranging throws the delicate daintiness of the practice out the window. As much as it might seem unlikely, these are intellectual, in fact subtly angry, activist photographs that encourage women to take back the knowledge that is rightfully theirs.
Here are Galerie’s picks of the must-see art and design events in New York this week, from the unveiling of Alicja Kwade’s rooftop installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Brooklyn Museum’s annual gala.
The resulting prints are currently on view at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki as part of Shelton’s retrospective, Dark Matter. Curated by Zara Stanhope, the exhibition centers on series that explore themes from trauma to female authorship through photos that often conflate fact and fiction.
Through a wide range of photographic investigations, Wellington-based artist Ann Shelton has, over her 20-year career, explored the construction of narratives that surround social, political and historical contexts.
Artist Ann Shelton and critic Claire Voon in conversation about the artist’s current virtual exhibition “A Lovers’ Herbal” . They discussed the evolution of Shelton’s work and how her practice was affected by a visit to New York City in 2019.
Ann Shelton sits down with Emil McAvoy from Art Collector Magazine to discuss her new work The Super Model, Iris (Iridaceae sp.), showing at Sydney Contemporary Presents 2020 with Two Rooms Gallery, Auckland.
The physical garden was a live performance during Ann Shelton’s exhibition jane says at Denny Dimin Gallery from April 18 – May 19, 2019.
