2024 exhibition
Emily Hartley-Skudder: CAMEO
Saturday 22 August 2026 – Sunday 4 July 2027
Te Manawa Art Gallery, Palmerston North
The inaugural Fair Trust Art Prize exhibition brings together pristine still-life paintings of cleaning products, she-wees and baby bottles with surreal constructions. Emily Hartley-Skudder’s latest body of work responds to Palmerston North’s much-loved historic Ladies Rest public toilets in Te Marae o Hine, The Square.
CAMEO takes its name from the group ‘Community Action by Mothers and Existing Other users’, who protested the planned additions of the information centre and men’s toilets to Ladies Rest in the early 2000s. Many locals will have their own memories of visiting these facilities, and Hartley-Skudder’s work engages the past to explore current ideas about feminism, intersectionality, cleanliness and control.
A place to ‘relieve yourself’ or ‘powder your nose’—on the surface, public bathrooms seem benign and functional. However, their design and relationship to bodily functions and gender also makes them political. Shining a light on the everyday conveniences we take for granted, Hartley-Skudder encourages us to consider what a safe space to rest means for everyone, and who gets to participate in public life versus who does not.
I hope to recall experiences of the bathroom as a space of everyday ritual, refuge and escapism. I aim to highlight the value of ordinary, public and private spaces and also the stubborn gender divisions attached to them.
– Emily Hartley-Skudder
Related events
CAMEO Talk and Tour
Sunday 23 August | 11:00am | Free
Te Manawa Art Gallery, Palmerston North
Come along to hear artist Emily Hartley-Skudder and exhibition curator Sian van Dyk in conversation about the process and concepts behind the inaugural Fair Trust Art Prize exhibition.
Ladies Rest Panel Discussion
Saturday 24 October | 5:30pm – 7:30pm | Free
Ladies Rest, Te Marae o Hine, The Square, Palmerston North
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 (Wellington), historian Dr Caroline Daley (Auckland), and locals, architect Darren Shadbolt and artist and business owner Catherine Russ. A unique opportunity for all genders to visit this much-loved Manawatū icon.
This event is part of Festival of Design Aotearoa. It is funded by the Eileen Fair Charitable Trust and supported by the Palmerston North City Council.