Photographic Artist * Gillian Eva Boyd

explorer of edges & psychogeographical drifter

I have always had a fairly singular vision with my photography, constantly on the lookout for the energy of the unseemly, the quietly beautiful, the understated.

If I'm out photographing scenic vista's with friends, I'll turn my back on the view and look to see if there is any interesting regurgitations in the carpark drains. My holiday photographs always disappoint - no one can tell where I have been. I leave it up to other photographers to make images of the ubiquitous Wanaka tree, (google it! it’s New Zealand’s equivalent of Antelope Canyon) or the Eiffel Tower or pretty sunsets. One of my own favourite images is of a nappy flung into a tree, suspended off a branch. I found this in a small strip of wasteland behind a hotel in middle America. It reminded me of a small stuck ghost unable to dematerialise itself.

I first started started photography in the 80’s as a teenager, as an adjunct to painting, then got sidetracked into a career in the entertainment industry in the early 90's. I worked as a sound designer / composer for alternative and mainstream theatre, as a studio sound engineer / producer,  and live sound engineer until 2023. I am still working in audio, now in a financial and administrative role. I returned to photography 15 or so years ago.

My first exhibition was in January 2013. It was a series of images called 'Loam', taken in an abandoned mechanics shop that was joined to the recording facility I had a room in at the time. The building used to be New Zealand’s SIS headquarters. It was built in 1946 and the Security Intelligence Service moved in 1969, and stayed until 1980. Shortly after, the mechanics moved in.

Every week I’d drop in and pay my rent in cash to Frank. It was astonishing filthy and you had to be careful not to brush up against anything, otherwise you would end up daubing and crying over an oil stain on your one good dress. Beneath the layers of grime, were glimpses of Laura Ashley wallpapers and Axminister carpets.

Since 2013 I have been part of 9 group shows and done two solo Exhibitions. My most recently shows were my second solo show at Photospace, where I showed 4 images from my Waitangi Series and the work, ‘Welcome! Gil’, and a group show at Birdo Flugas in Shiogama Japan showing three images from Waitangi.