Fiona Pardington

Ahead of her 2026 Venice Biennale presentation, Fiona Pardington presents her debut solo exhibition with 1301SW Sydney. Each carefully curated composition draws from a personal lexicon of meanings: found objects and rediscovered family heirlooms that speak to Pardington's whakapapa/genealogy, or native and invasive botanical species that carry the weight of colonialism. Objects once associated with death and absence are reanimated with reverence and care, their individual histories revealed through precise arrangement. Continuing Pardington's themes of emotion and affect, these works present a dialogue between beauty and transience. Drawing on traditions of Vanitas and Memento Mori paintings, she demonstrates mastery over both darkroom analogue and digital photography techniques. Light and colour evoke the painterly precision of Caravaggio's chiaroscuro and Dutch still-life compositions, inviting contemplation of memory, longing, mourning, and sensuality.