Artwork information

Minerva Betts is one of the pseudonyms associated with the New Zealand-based artist collective et al. Based in Christchurch during the early period of their art production, Minerva Betts is primarily known for their photographic work. Her image-making was ground-breaking in New Zealand because it questioned notions of portraiture and resemblance by allowing chance, spontaneity and performance to mutate appearance into what was unfamiliar while seemingly being based in a domestic context. She investigated a use of photography that mixed notions of the personal and the private underpinned by performance and collaboration. Their photographic approach formed images that are disquieting and occasionally disturbing through the use of a figure’s motion combined with slow shutter speeds which made monochromatic images that are frequently blurred.