Caroline McQuarrie
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.
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Bullock Creek, Buller District (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Rārua rohe), 2022
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Deadmans Creek, Grey District (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Ngāti Rārua rohe), 2022
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Due North Creek, Buller District (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Toa Rangatira rohe) , 2022
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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
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Johnny Walker Creek, Buller District (Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Toa Rangatira rohe) , 2022
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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
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All is swept away, 2021
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At home you called them mountains, 2021
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His labour is gouged into the land, 2021
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It seems you spend every waking moment, 2021
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The brightness is blinding, 2021
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You are still surprised, 2021
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You blinked and it was winter, 2021
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You do not have time for sorrow, 2021
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They gave you a list, 2020
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Black sand, 2017
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Fool’s gold , 2017
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Baths, 2016
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Blue Lake , 2016
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Broken Hills Water race track, 2016
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Incline, 2016
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Mine Shaft, 2016
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Tailings , 2016
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Tunnel , 2016
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Tunnel Beach, 2016
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Water race, 2016
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Flume Trestles, 2015
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Preaching Pit, Gwennap, Cornwall, UK, 2015
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Preaching Pit, St Newlyn East, Cornwall, UK, 2015
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Preaching Pit, Tregonning Hill, Cornwall, UK, 2015
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Former residence of Joseph Divis, photographer and miner (uninhabited), Waiuta, December 2011, 2014
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Former school building, now ‘Friends of the Hill’ museum, Denniston, June 2012, 2014
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German Gully pack track, Goldsborough, tail race in middle of track, January 2013, 2014
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Homewardbounder #01, 2014
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Homewardbounder #02, 2014
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Homewardbounder #03, 2014
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Homewardbounder #04, 2014
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Homewardbounder #05, 2014
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Homewardbounder #06, 2014
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Homewardbounder #07, 2014
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Interior of abandoned private residence, Big River, January 2013, 2014
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Interior ‘Gill Cottage’, Waiuta, December 2011, 2014
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Lyell Cemetery, June 2012, 2014
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Remains of private residence, Denniston, January 2013, 2014
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Steps from ‘Camp’ to mine workings at the head of the incline, Denniston, June 2012, 2014
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Tunnel, 2013
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Cushions, 2009
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Foxglove , 2009
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Log , 2009
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Seat, 2009
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Summer Selection
25 Jan - 11 Feb 2023Jhana Millers reopens for 2023 with a selection of works by gallery artists.Read more -
Caroline McQuarrie, It snows in winter: Remembering Waiuta
1 - 30 Jun 2022Online only Part of the Auckland Festival of Photography. Waiuta is an official historic site on the West Coast of Te Waipounamu, run by DOC and community group Friends of...Read more -
Caroline McQuarrie, This Blasted Heath
17 Feb - 20 Mar 2022Caroline McQuarrie, This Blasted Heath. Exhibition at Jhana Millers Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, Aotearoa New ZealandRead more
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Caroline McQuarrie, The New Sun
11 Feb - 13 Mar 2021Caroline McQuarrie, The New Sun. Exhibition at Jhana Millers Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, Aotearoa New ZealandRead more
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Caroline McQuarrie: Reviewed
Mary-Jane Duffy, Photofourm.nz-org, March 1, 2021 -
Caroline McQuarrie, The New Sun
Heather Galbraith, Exhibition essay, February 11, 2021 -
Prospecting the past: Artist profile
Alice Tappenden, Art News New Zealand, December 22, 2018 -
DEAR DAVE
Susan Bright, Magazine 25, September 23, 2017 -
Photography and suspicion
Lucy Ovenden, EyeContact, May 1, 2017 -
A show for the public
T.J.McNamara, New Zealand Herald, May 1, 2016 -
One Mind with Multiple Bodies (1)
John Hurrell, EyeContact, April 1, 2016 -
Enjoy Public Art Gallery: Homeward bounder
Deidra Sullivan, hashtag500words.com, May 1, 2015 -
Something old, something new: Caroline McQuarrie’s Reasons for Silence
Mark Bolland, Art New Zealand, No. 138, June 1, 2011 -
Uncomfortable at Home: Genevieve Packer and Caroline McQuarrie
Mark Amery, Dominion Post, May 1, 2008