Gwynneth Porter (b.1970, Aberystwyth, Wales) is a writer and editor from Ōtautahi Christchurch in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Writing essays since the mid-1990s, her practice has involved persistent experimentation with forms, methodologies and subject positions – auto-theory, ficto-criticism and dialogue – for art writing and book development with artists.
How else can it be between people?
With a long history of collaborations with artists in publication situations and artist-run projects, she has a working background in art school teaching, visual arts publishing, social services and art museum curatorial and public programmes mahi.
~~~give~~~ or ~~~take~~~
She has recently completed a PhD through Monash University in Melbourne’s Department of Art History and Theory with a thesis titled ‘Delinquent palaces: Adolescent museum visitation in literature.’
As an editor, with designer Warren Olds, she started and ran Clouds publishing, an art-book press based in Tāmaki Auckland. She also co-edited with Olds and Dan Arps, the magazine Natural Selection and, with Tessa Laird, Log Illustrated. Since 2020, production editing work has been undertaken for the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, The Physics Room and Rim Books. She was one of the organising committee of the itinerant artist-run project Cuckoo.
Her work has been published in magazines including Art+Australia, Femisphere, Mute, Natural Selection, Slave / Bless, Lives of the Artists, Textfield, New Zealand Journal of Photography, and earlier in Monica, Like, Log Illustrated and Midwest.
Essays have appeared in books published by galleries such as The Barbican, Objectspace, Christchurch Art Gallery, Te Tuhi, City Gallery Wellington, The Dowse, Artspace, Artspace Sydney, Michael Lett, A Gentil Carioca, ACCA, Te Papa Tongarewa, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, The Physics Room, Teststrip and Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
Texts have been included in artists’ books published by Massey University Press, Clouds, DDMMYY, Dent-de-Leone, Revolver, Auckland University Press and Rim Books.
Lectures and workshops have been given at Christchurch Art Gallery, The Physics Room, Documenta 12, Gertrude Street, Victorian College of the Arts, Nextwave Festival, Auckland Art Gallery, Massey University and City Gallery Wellington.
Teaching, supervisions and examinations have happened at the University of Auckland at Manukau, Elam School of Fine Arts, Monash University, Massey University and the University of Canterbury.
She has an MFA from the University of Auckland, a PgDip in Museum Studies from Massey University and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from the University of Canterbury.