Ann Shelton, Pākehā/Italian (b. 1967, Aotearoa New Zealand) received her MFA from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. She lives in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, New Zealand and exhibits internationally. Her most recent museum survey, Dark Matter, curated by Zara Stanhope (Director, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Ngāmotu New Plymouth, Aotearoa New Zealand), was hosted by Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki in 2016 and toured to Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū in 2017. The catalogue accompanying the exhibition included essays by Abigail Solomon-Godeau, Ulrich Bauer, Donna West Brett, Dorita Hannah and John Di Stefano, and Stanhope.
Shelton is represented by Two Rooms Gallery (AK, NZ), Bartley and Company Art (WGTN, NZ) and by Denny Gallery (NY, USA), where she had her first solo exhibition in the United States in 2019. Her recent body of work, jane says, has been exhibited internationally and the accompanying performance The physical garden, has been performed numerous times. Shelton’s award-winning work has been extensively written about and reviewed in publications including Artforum, Hyperallergic, Journal of New Zealand & Pacific Studies, artnet news, The Art Newspaper, and the Evergreen Review. Her works are included in public and private collections throughout Aotearoa New Zealand and in the United States. Shelton’s most recent research engages with plants and plant narratives, in particular the intersection of plant histories with human knowledge and belief systems.
Her latest book mother lode was published in 2020 by Bad News Books, in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington and has received a highly commended award in the Aotearoa Photobook Awards 2022. Shelton presented her third solo exhibition i am an old phenomenon at Denny Gallery in November 2022.
Shelton is Honorary Research Fellow in Photography at Whiti o Rehua, School of Art, Massey University, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa.
Shelton is represented by Denny Gallery in New York, and Two Rooms in Aotearoa.