Gil Hanly
Gil Hanly
Charles Ninow Fine Art
First Floor, La Gonda Building, 203 Karangahape Rd, Auckland
11 September - 17 October 2026
Preview Friday 11 September, 6 - 8pm
Gil Hanly, Hamilton Match, 1981, gelatin silver print, 195 x 295mm
Now in her early 90s, Gil Hanly is an important cultural figure. As a photographer, she produced a body of work so comprehensive that it reads like a national archive. This exhibition presents seven photographs spanning a 19-year period, from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s. Mostly set in Auckland, they tell the stories of Hanly’s lived experience and Aotearoa’s identity. It was a period where we shed our isolated, post-war ‘Fortress New Zealand’ identity and forged into the modern world, where global politics played out in our own communities.
In an interview from the time, Hanly said this about her work: "I just record things. I'm not pretending to be an artist."