Emily Hartley-Skudder: CAMEO — Te Manawa Museum
A major new art prize designed to fuel bold artistic ambition will make its debut when CAMEO, an exhibition by Wellington contemporary artist Emily Hartley-Skudder, opens at Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science and Heritage in Palmerston North on 22 August.
Hartley-Skudder is the inaugural recipient of the $40,000 Fair Trust Art Prize, awarded annually by the Eileen Fair Charitable Trust following recommendation from a specialist arts panel.
CAMEO is Hartley-Skudder’s response to Ladies Rest, Palmerston North’s historic Art Deco public toilets in Te Marae o Hine, the Square.
Hartley-Skudder, whose pristine oil paintings and uncanny, faux-domestic installations have been exhibited widely throughout Aotearoa and internationally, says receiving the award is a career highlight.
‘To be given the financial support to really sink my teeth into a major body of work for a public gallery is an incredible opportunity.
‘The prize has allowed me to do a deep dive into research around the historic Ladies Rest, and the establishment of similar women's restrooms throughout Aotearoa in the 1930s.
‘Public bathrooms are inescapably political. Most significantly, they are about access—who gets to participate in public life and who doesn’t,’ she says.
Visitors to the free public exhibition can expect to see a mix of humour and desire reflected in Hartley-Skudder’s subtly subversive paintings as well as elements of feminism, identity and control in the artist’s ‘artificial ordinary’ retro bathroom installations.
Te Manawa senior manager curatorial & collections Sian van Dyk, who recommended Hartley-Skudder as inaugural Fair Trust Art Prize recipient, says the exhibition brings something unique to Manawatū.
‘We are so proud to work with Emily to present CAMEO. We anticipate that an exhibition of this depth will draw audiences across the country as well as having wide appeal to locals.
‘Emily’s work is accessible —and even a bit cheeky—while also being critically engaged. Many visitors will have their own memories of and experiences with Ladies Rest and it’s our hope this nostalgia and familiarity will draw them in to consider Emily’s response to it alongside the universal themes she explores,’ says Ms van Dyk.
Eileen Fair Charitable Trust spokesperson Penny Hartill says it’s a landmark moment seeing Eileen’s wishes come to fruition in Emily Hartley-Skudder’s CAMEO.
‘Dr Fair left in her Will a request that this prize be established. It reflects her heartfelt commitment to artists nationally, and her wish for a flourishing contemporary arts scene in what she described as the North Island’s ‘middle million’.
‘Eileen had an eye for the alternative and was known for her deep engagement with contemporary thinking.
She would be delighted by Emily’s questioning of the status quo in her work. And she would enjoy Emily’s observations of the multiple meanings and uses of Ladies Rest as reflected in CAMEO,’ says Ms Hartill.
In June this year, Ladies Rest was officially given a Category 2 Historic Place heritage listing by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Tāonga in recognition of the significant cultural and architectural value of the 1936 Art Deco building.
For imagery, interviews and further information contact: Penny Hartill – director hPR 021 721 424, penny@hartillpr.co.nz
Key dates:
Emily Hartley-Skudder: CAMEO
Saturday August 22, 2026 – Sunday 4 July, 2027
CAMEO Floor talk and tour
Sunday 23 August |11:00 am| Free
Artist Emily Hartley-Skudder and exhibition curator Sian van Dyk in conversation.
Ladies Rest Panel Discussion | Festival of Design Aotearoa
Saturday 24 October| 5:30-7:30 pm
Ladies Rest, Te Marae o Hine, The Square
A lively conversation about gendered history, cleanliness and control, and the taonga that is Ladies Rest. Curator Sian van Dyk will lead a Q&A with artist Emily Hartley-Skudder, historian Dr Caroline Daley, architect Darren Shadbolt and artist and business owner Catherine Russ.
Editor’s notes:
Emily Hartley-Skudder is a contemporary artist living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. Known for her hyper-realistic paintings, assemblages, and site-specific installations, Emily delves into the artificial ordinary and faux domestic. Alongside inescapable art historical references, Emily offers playful subversions of an historically male-dominated art world.
Emily graduated from Ilam School of Fine Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (First Class Honours) in 2012. She has exhibited widely in Aotearoa and participated in shows in New York, Australia, Japan, and China. In 2023, Emily was the Frances Hodgkins Fellow and Molly Morpeth Canaday Major Award Winner. She is represented by Jhana Millers Gallery, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, and Jonathan Smart Gallery, Ōtautahi Christchurch. Her work is held in public collections across Aotearoa.
The$40,000 Fair Trust Art Prize is awarded annually to an artist to develop a new body of work for exhibition. It is open by invitation to mid-career artists of any genre, media or practice, and focuses on how socially relevant concepts, information, and ideas are visually articulated.
Sian van Dyk has almost 20 years’ experience working across the visual arts sector. Currently senior manager curatorial and collections at Te Manawa, she has also held curatorial positions at The Dowse Art Museum and Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery.
Eileen Fair Charitable Trust is dedicated to advancing education and benefiting the community by providing funding for the arts and environmental studies. The trust was established following the death of Dr Eileen Fair in January 2024.
Dr Eileen Fair was an entrepreneur, academic and passionate arts lover whose legacy can be seen in projects all over Palmerston North. Over her lifetime, Eileen built a formidable art collection including paintings by Rita Cook (later known as Rita Angus), Olivia Spencer Bower, Karl Maughan, Sydney Lough Thompson, and James Boswell, Colin McCahon and Anne Hamblett, who were Eileen’s second cousins.
