Virginia Were is an artist and writer who lives in Auckland, New Zealand, and is currently completing a Doctor of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland. Before beginning her post-graduate studies, she was Editor of the contemporary art magazine “Art News New Zealand” from 2000 to 2017.
Viewing the world through a posthuman lens, Virginia uses her camera to document collaborative ways of being with living matter that stress tenderness and reciprocity and recognise the entanglement of all life. Her research engages with the field of astrobiology, which seeks to answer the question of how life began on Earth, where it may be found and what it might look like elsewhere in the universe. As part of her doctoral project she has been photographing star scapes, microbial life in hot springs environments and rodeos.
Education
2018 Master of Fine Arts with First-Class Honours, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland
1984 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland
1986 Original Composition Paper with Bill Manhire, Victoria University, Wellington
Group Exhibitions
2019 Wallace Art Awards 2019
2019 Cross the River, NorthArt
2017 Simon Devitt photography Award exhibition, George Fraser Gallery, University of Auckland
2015 Wallace Art Awards 2015
Books
Juliet Bravo Juliet (Victoria University Press, 1989)
Jump Start (Victoria University Press, 1999)
Anthologies and Journals
The Faber Book of South Pacific Writing (Faber, 1994)
An Anthology of New Zealand Poetry in English (Oxford University Press, 1997)
One Hundred New Zealand Poems (Godwit Press, 1993)
My Heart Goes Swimming – New Zealand Love Poems (Godwit Press, 1995)
Essential New Zealand Poems (Godwit Press, 2001)
Vital Writing (Godwit Press)
100 NZ Short Stories (Tandem Press)
Sport, New Zealand New Writing (Victoria University of Wellington)
Meanjin (University of Melbourne)
Landfall (Caxton Press)
Awards
2015 Second Runner-Up in the Wallace Art Awards, 2015 for the photograph Bondi Icebergs, 2015
1989 PEN New Zealand Prize for Best First Book of Poetry for Juliet Bravo Juliet (Victoria University Press, 1989)