Ann Noble, Ruby’s Room #06

Unnerved is an exhibition of New Zealand art with a distinctively dark mood. It features notable NZ photo media artists, Ann Noble, Yvonne Todd, Lawrence Aberhart and many others. The work has “a darkness and distinctive edginess that characterises this particular trend in New Zealand contemporary art. ( NGV)

Some of the work hints at ‘original sin’, a feeling that some dark secret lingers behind a facade of normality. It’s New Zealand Gothic, an idea often expressed in movies, and not just in Peter Jackson’s. It’s as ironic as it is dark. “The psychological or physical unease underlying many works in the exhibitions is addressed with humour, parody and poetic subtlety”.

Unnerved is at the NGV until February 27, 2011