14 February - 5 April 2009

This exhibition has been inspired by the immediate surrounds of Sally Burton’s house and studio on the Waimea Plains , a fertile alluvial plain south of the city of Nelson.    Sally moved to the Waimea Plains three decades ago when her partner David Morley was working on the O’Connor family farm, milking cows and working the Clydesdale horse team.  The O’Connor farm is one of the longest established dairy farms in the Nelson region and an important example of this region’s social and economic history.  The dairy farm was established by John and Bridget O’Connor in 1853 and is continued by O’Connor descendants to this day. 

Sally’s rural lifestyle has been a source of inspiration throughout her artistic career and the daily parade of the cows to the dairy shed is a constant rhythm in her life.  Sally’s motivation to draw attention to the history of cows was, however, inspired by her 2006-7 artist residency in Sanskriti, India.  The sacred place of cows in Indian culture and the use of the milk in religious ceremony – as the ‘essence of life’ -  is in stark contrast to the business of milk in her backyard.

This was the starting point for an investigation into the O’Connor family farm, the history of the herd and the impact of technological changes on herd management.  More specifically, Sally wanted to pay homage to the under-celebrated workers of the farm – the M.P.U.’s (Milk Production Units) /cows – especially the memorable personalities that were so fondly recalled by different members of the O’Connor family.  Tellingly however, and despite extensive research through the family archive, Sally found no photographs of any of the O’Connor cows from any era.

This impelled her create a ‘dream herd of dairy queens’, life-sized portraits of historic cows from the O’Connor herd.  Sally also created some imaginary cows whose markings reference brands and industries related to dairying and comment on the commodification of these animals.   The lack of photographs of O’Connor cows gave Sally complete freedom to create the cows but the physical form was based on observations of the cows in the neighbouring paddocks.   The resulting portraits hang like ghostly apparitions in the gallery and bring us face to face with the working women of our country’s most important industry. 

Inevitably the exhibition also reflects on broader issues such as the impact of technological advancements in dairying, the products and by-products of the industry and environmental impacts (such as water demands and use).  A timeline on the back wall of the gallery reflects changes in the practice of dairying and incorporates archival material from the O’Connor herd records, early dairy companies in the Nelson region and milk production records from recent years.  The landscape paintings show two aspects of the impact of dairying on the landscape.

The exhibition centrepiece is a grand chandelier made from milking machine components, stainless steel and state of the art lighting devices. This chandelier not only reflects the technological edge of dairying, it also bestows the installation with a surreal and romantic grandeur.  This is a subtle reminder about the industrialisation of the natural reproductive processes behind milk production.  It is also a sly comment on the patriarchal nature of this industry and presents the story of dairying from a women’s perspective.