Parasite
448 Karangahape Road
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
2020–2022

Parasite was founded in February 2020 by DJCS in response to ongoing debates around the absence of LGBTTQIA+ art and artists within public art institutions. These questions of representation were reignited by DJCS’ 2019 findings, which revealed that only 0.06% of the Auckland Art Gallery’s digitised collection was tagged as LGBTQ+ related. The findings went viral on social media, sparking widespread discussion about the politics of visibility in cultural institutions.

Conceived as both a site of institutional critique and an experiment in new modes of presentation, Parasite positioned queer culture within broader conversations on everyday socio-political life. The gallery was located in the three-story staircase of DJCS’ private residence on Karangahape Road.

Parasite hosted critically recognised solo exhibitions by Tash Keddy, Ali Senescall, Aliyah Winter, Nayan Patel, Owen Connors, Cao Xun, Obadiah Russon, p Walters, Laura Duffy, and Deborah Rundle. It also published Samuel Te Kani’s first novella, Daddy, and presented projects at May Fair Art Fair (2020) and the Auckland Art Fair (2021).

On My Volcano Grows the Grass, Deborah Rundle

Maybe someone is starting to bloom, Laura Duffy

New World Daughter; a sterile sermon on the vile waha of a fuckin' leitī, p Walters

Splitting Lips, Limbs and Eyes, Obadiah Russon

Command & Conquer: The Covert Sculpture, Xun Cao

Salon De La Mort, Owen Connors, Nayan Patel, Aliyah Winter

For Future Breeders, Owen Connors

Still Life, Nayan Patel

Daddy, Samuel Te Kani

HYPNO.MATRIX, Aliyah Winter

As Above So Below, Ali Senescall

On Rat Bones, Tash Keddy, Ali Senescall, Samuel Te Kani

Grindhouse, Tash Keddy