Biography

Curiosity about what is tangible and what is intangible, what traces remain, and whose lived experiences are valued enough to be recorded are strong drivers in Caroline's practice.

Caroline McQuarrie is a contemporary artist and photographer. Born in 1975, she lives in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington.

Caroline is an interdisciplinary artist who has long been exploring personal and familial histories and the role that photography and hand-crafted textile might play in interrogating these narratives. Curiosity about what is tangible and what is intangible, what traces remain, and whose lived experiences are valued enough to be recorded are strong drivers for her practice.

Caroline has spent several years photographing sites of 1800s mining industry—tunnels, tailings, inclines, paths—places of man-altered hills, rivers and bush. These are sites of former prosperity, of once bustling industries, and sites of change and trauma. Caroline often focuses her gaze on the historical and ecological legacies of the area around her family home in Te Tai Poutini, the West Coast of the South Island.

In her embroidered and textile projects, Caroline enjoys bringing to light lesser known or documented stories, particularly those of early settler Pākehā women and their families. These experiences and stories were more domestic and ephemeral, often overlooked, and now mostly lost to the annals of history.

Works
  • Caroline McQuarrie and Marci Tackett Jhana Millers Gallery
    Poplar Tree in Winter, in collaboration with Marci Tackett, 2025
  • Jhana Millers Gallery Caroline McQuarrie
    Untitled (30 December 2024), 2025
  • Caroline McQuarrie Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington
    Fence, 2024
  • Caroline McQuarrie Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington
    Gullies, 2024
  • Caroline McQuarrie Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington
    Hills, 2024
  • Caroline McQuarrie Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington
    Incline, 2024
  • Caroline McQuarrie Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington
    Woven sampler 11, 2024
  • Caroline McQuarrie Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington
    Woven sampler 12, 2024
  • Caroline McQuarrie Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington
    Woven sampler 2, 2024
  • Caroline McQuarrie Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington
    Woven sampler 3, 2024
  • Caroline McQuarrie Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington
    Woven sampler 4, 2024
  • Caroline McQuarrie Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington
    Woven sampler 5, 2024
  • Caroline McQuarrie Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington
    Woven sampler 6, 2024
  • Caroline McQuarrie Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington
    Woven sampler 7, 2024
  • Caroline McQuarrie Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington
    Woven sampler 8, 2024
  • Caroline McQuarrie Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington
    Woven sampler 9, 2024
  • Caroline McQuarrie Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington
    Bullock Creek, Buller District (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Rārua rohe), 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Deadmans Creek, Grey District (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Rārua rohe), 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Due North Creek, Buller District (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Toa Rangatira rohe) , 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Homestead Creek, Tasman District (Rangitāne o Wairau, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Tama ki Te Tau Ihu, Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Kōata, Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō rohe), 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Johnny Walker Creek, Buller District (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Toa Rangatira rohe), 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Mead Creek, Tasman District (Te Atiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui, Rangitāne o Wairau, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti ki Te Tau Ihu, Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Kōata, Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō rohe), 2022
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    All is swept away, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    At home you called them mountains, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    His labour is gouged into the land, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    It seems you spend every waking moment, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    The brightness is blinding, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    You are still surprised, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    You blinked and it was winter, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    You do not have time for sorrow, 2021
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    They gave you a list, 2020
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Black sand, 2017
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Fool’s gold , 2017
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Baths, 2016
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Blue Lake, 2016
  • Caroline McQuarrie, Broken Hills Water race track, 2016
    Broken Hills Water race track, 2016
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Incline, 2016
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Mine Shaft, 2016
  • Jhana Millers Caroline McQuarrie
    Overgrown Hedge, Blue Spur, 2016
  • Caroline McQuarrie, Sluiced hills, 2016
    Sluiced hills, 2016
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Tailings , 2016
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Tunnel , 2016
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Tunnel Beach, 2016
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Water race, 2016
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Flume Trestles, 2015
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Preaching Pit, Gwennap, Cornwall, UK, 2015
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Preaching Pit, St Newlyn East, Cornwall, UK, 2015
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Preaching Pit, Tregonning Hill, Cornwall, UK, 2015
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Former residence of Joseph Divis, photographer and miner (uninhabited), Waiuta, December 2011, 2014
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Former school building, now ‘Friends of the Hill’ museum, Denniston, June 2012, 2014
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    German Gully pack track, Goldsborough, tail race in middle of track, January 2013, 2014
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Homewardbounder #01, 2014
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Homewardbounder #02, 2014
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Homewardbounder #03, 2014
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Homewardbounder #04, 2014
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Homewardbounder #05, 2014
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Homewardbounder #06, 2014
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Homewardbounder #07, 2014
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Interior of abandoned private residence, Big River, January 2013, 2014
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Interior ‘Gill Cottage’, Waiuta, December 2011, 2014
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Lyell Cemetery, June 2012, 2014
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Remains of private residence, Denniston, January 2013, 2014
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Steps from ‘Camp’ to mine workings at the head of the incline, Denniston, June 2012, 2014
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Tunnel, 2013
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Cushions, 2009
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Foxglove, 2009
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Log, 2009
  • Jhana Millers Art Gallery Wellington Caroline McQuarrie
    Seat, 2009
Installation shots
Caroline McQuarrie
This Blasted Heath, 2022
Jhana Millers Gallery 
Installation image
Exhibitions
Press
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