Ava Seymour

Ava Seymour is a New Zealand artist born in Palmerston North in 1967.[1][2] She attended the Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE in Prahran in 1988.[3] Seymour was based in Berlin for two years, where she began producing her photocollages. She returned to New Zealand in 1994 and had her first exhibition in 1995.[3] In 2001, Seymour was appointed a Frances Hodgkins Fellow. During this fellowship, she focused on Central Otago imagery.[4] In 2009, Seymour received a McCahon House Artist residency, during which she developed work that was included in The Kauri Project: A Delicate Balance at Te Uru Contemporary Gallery, April 2015.[5]

Seymour's Health, Happiness and Housing is a suite of 15 photographic montages of New Zealanders and their state housing, described as a "perceptive and astringent portrait of New Zealand" by Ron Brownson.[6] It was exhibited at Artspace NZ in Auckland[7] and The Physics Room in Christchurch[8] in 1997 and 1998, and was subsequently acquired by Auckland Art Gallery.[6]

Seymour's work is included in the collections of Auckland Art Gallery, Te Papa Tongarewa, The National Gallery of Australia, The National Gallery of Victoria, and Queensland Art Gallery.[3]