Shannon Novak: Make Visible : Taranaki

"Research shows that LGBTQI+ communities experience disproportionally higher rates of anxiety, suicide, and depression than the general population in New Zealand. One contributing factor can be a lack of visibility. When you don't see yourself in a space, you are less likely to engage with that space"

—Shannon Novak.

Since 2022, Shannon Novak has been working with support from the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery on an ongoing project titled Make Visible: Taranaki. The aim of the project is "to grow support for LGBTQI+ communities in Taranaki, New Zealand by making visible challenges and triumphs for these communities". In part, the project helps the gallery develop a positive working relationship with local LGBTQI+ communities. It is part of a wider, global Make Visible project that has ongoing chapters in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Queensland, and New York.

Make Visible: Taranaki manifests as onsite and offsite work Novak develops with local LGBTQI+ communities through an ongoing periodic residency at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery. The outputs of this project are updated on Novak's project page here. To date these include:

1. Opening Act, The Mayfair, New Plymouth, New Zealand.
2. Hard Labour, New Plymouth Prison, New Plymouth, New Zealand.
3. The Unfurling, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand.
4. Parthenogenesis, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand.
5. Do You Think You Could Love a Computer?, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand.

Read more about The Unfurling, with Pasha Clothier here. 

A selection of documentation from Shannon's onsite and offsite work for Make Visible: Taranaki.