CONTEMPORARY NEW ZEALAND JEWELLERY

Rowan Panther

Born in Auckland, Rowan Panther is a lace textile artist whose work occupies the space between art and artefact. Coming from New Zealand, a country with complex colonisation, Panther connects to and explores her Samoan/Irish/English heritage, creating her own cultural hybrid. Inspired by museum displays and social domestic history, her work is concurrently art and craft, questioning the artificial distinction between the two. Panther has spent years refining her practice and has moved towards experimenting with wearable pieces of lace work. She completed her Diploma in Contemporary Photography from Unitec in 2002, a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Elam in 2008 and continues to travel between Wellington and Auckland as she works in film and television. Rowan lives in Doubtless Bay, Northland.