Lauren Lysaght
Lauren Lysaght (born 1949) is a New Zealand multidisciplinary artist. Her works are held in the collection of the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and the Sarjeant Gallery. She has exhibited widely in New Zealand since the early 1980s. Early life. Lysaght was born in Hamilton in 1949. Lysaght grew up in Tauranga, the daughter of an Irish butcher father and an Italian mother. Lysaght credits an art teacher she met at Tauranga Girls' College, Claudia Jarman, with encouraging her passion to become an artist. At age 15 she  was committed to the secure psychiatric institution Oakley Hospital, as she was considered not in 'full control'. Career. In 1987 Lysaght started working as a full-time artist, and had her first solo exhibition at the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt called "Out of the Woodwork", an installation of found furniture customised by painting on it, titled to also mark her coming out as a lesbian. Lysaght has been described as one of New Zealand's foremost social conscience artists, her works being often concerned with issues such as disability, poverty and mental illness. She has worked with mental  health patients, elderly people in nursing homes, council housing tenants, and between 1984 and 1986 Lysaght helped set up an art programme at Arohata Women's Prison. In 2016 Lysaght moved to Whanganui with her partner. Notable solo exhibitions: Notable group exhibitions: Awards and residencies: