Fiona Pardington was born in Auckland in 1961 of Maori (Ngai Tahu, Kati Mamoe) and Scottish descent. She graduated from Elam with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (photography) in 1984 and later a Doctorate in Fine Arts from the University of Auckland in 2011. She became an Arts Foundation Laureate in 2011.
She has created dramatically different series of photographic work over the last 3 decades ranging from rare or extinct bird specimens, bird nests, partially carved hei tiki (Māori neck ornaments), vanitas still lifes, 1950s soft-core porn, imperialist phrenology, children’s letter writing, ornamental glass horses, plaster fungi replicas, the butterfly watercolours of Vladimir Nabokov, and fake hei tiki.
She is one of New Zealand’s most important and celebrated photographers and was awarded a Quai Branly Laureate Award: La Residence de Photoquai. She is also the only New Zealander to have been made a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government – bestowed by the French Prime Minister in 2016.
