Fiona Clark is one of Aotearoa’s most important social documentary photographers, known for giving agency to her subjects incorporating their words and for working with people she has strong relationships with, particularly the LGBTQI community. Fiona says:“My intent is to give people a voice. The photos say, ‘I am who I am. I’m here. I’m part of your world and I’m going to stay.’ What’s so powerful is the participant’s gaze and directness, but there’s also a huge sadness. You can see the struggle it takes to keep that personal momentum going. I hope these photos make you feel the human connection we all feel when we look at another person. It’s the thread that binds us.”Chrissy Witoko (Ngāti Kahungunu, 1944–2002) was ‘Queen of Wellington’ and owner of the Evergreen Coffee Lounge on Vivian Street, a popular late-night entertainment establishment and safe, accepting environment for the queer community from the 1980s to mid-1990s. Witoko is pictured here with her family, Fiona’s image conveys the warmth and care they have for each other.

(Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection, 6 August 2022- )

Throughout her early career, beginning when she worked the late shift at a central city bar, Fiona Clark made photographs of the drag scene in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Her images are vivid and forthright and form a significant record of the people and places that were involved in sustaining queer and trans subculture at a time when this kind of self-expression could still lead to arrest in Aotearoa. Diana and Sheila and Diana and Perry have a deeply human quality to them – a vulnerability that Fiona always wanted her photographs to communicate – but also revel in the glamour and ingenuity of dressing up, going out. For Fiona, “[t]hese photos say, ‘I am who I am. I’m here. I’m part of your world and I’m going to stay.’”

(Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection, 6 August 2022- 21 July 2024)