Discover the process of commemoration through art-making with exhibiting artist Robyn Hughes in conversation with Elizabeth Rankin, Professor Emeritus of Art History at the University of Auckland. Learn how the artist researched and responded to the Battle of Passchendaele, and the different ways she visualised the events of both the war front and the home front for this exhibition, to offer a contemporary reflection on the war a century later.

About Elizabeth Rankin

Scottish-born Elizabeth Rankin has recently retired as Professor of Art History at the University of Auckland, having come to take up the position in New Zealand in 1998 after studying and teaching in South Africa for many years. She soon came to appreciate the art here, and to extend her range of publications to write about various New Zealand painters, sculptors, photographers and printmakers, including essays on works by Robyn Hughes. 

This floor talk supports Commemorating Passchendaele – Home Front to Frontline, a new exhibition by Robyn Hughes which opens 4 pm on 16 September 2017 at Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi – The Whakatāne Library and Exhibition Centre. The opening event will include a special presentation from Glyn Harper, Professor of War Studies at Massey University, outlining what happened on the battlefields of 1917 and why their military plans went awry for the allies. If you would like to attend this opening event and special presentation, email museumandarts@whakatane.govt.nz or call 07 306 0505.

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