On now at the New Zealand Acad­e­my of Fine Arts the instal­la­tion ‘Hall of the Unrecog­nised’ cel­e­brates the inau­gur­al Nation­al Coun­cil of Women which first met in Christchurch on 13 April 1896. The instal­la­tion is part of the Solo 36 group show. It’s an inter­est­ing and pro­vok­ing exhi­bi­tion con­sid­er­ing the cur­rent debate around rape and rape cul­ture in NZ.

solo 36 pendants
The aim of the NCW was to ‘unite all organ­ised Soci­eties of Women for mutu­al coun­sel and co-oper­a­tion, and in the attain­ment of jus­tice and free­dom for women, and for all that makes for the good of human­i­ty’. Jus­tine Fletcher’s instal­la­tion offers an oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­sid­er these 25 women as indi­vid­u­als — high­ly moti­vat­ed, pas­sion­ate and gen­er­ous, a cen­tu­ry lat­er we have much in com­mon with them and their agen­da to work in a prac­ti­cal man­ner to bring about reform leg­isla­tive­ly so women and men had equal rights.

solo 36 aprons

The instal­la­tion also offers a fundrais­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty for Welling­ton Rape Cri­sis who due to an ongo­ing lack of ade­quate fund­ing, once again find them­selves strug­gling to sur­vive and sup­port those who need their help. We also owe these women much. 50% of all sales (after gallery com­mis­sion) will go to Welling­ton Rape Cri­sis.

Jus­tine along with her part­ner Gio­van­ni is behind Knack mar­ket, which oper­ates as a fundrais­er for Berham­pore School and an out­let for emerg­ing and estab­lished crafters and artists to sell and show­case their cre­ations. Krist­mas Knack is on tomor­row Sat­ur­day Novem­ber 16th at Berham­pore School 105 Brit­o­mart Street