ABOUT THE WORK

'A Thousand Lovers' is a multi-channel art installation by international Artist Burnett-Rose. The artist opened the doors to her Pop Up Gallery ARTBOX on the Queen's Wharf in Auckland, a converted 40 foot shipping container with a photographic studio, multiple film screens, TV monitors and 7 lightboxes, to a surprised public. Passersby were invited in to celebrate their love, by kissing their partner on film and for photographs.

The name for the piece came when the artist discovered the Maori name for Auckland to be Tamaki Makaurau, 'the isthmus of a thousand lovers' or 'many lovers'.. This name had been given due to the strategic importance of this narrow strip of land, a place where many tribes met, and where the intermingling of disparate peoples was common.

The artist, an immigrant from Europe, and recently moved to Auckland after several years in the South Island, was struck by the multi-culturalism of the city, with such high numbers of polynesians, and people from all around the world. She was also moved to see how unremarkable and accepted multi-cultural couples are in Auckland.

Having spent several years in her art practise looking at love in all it's guises, this project is a development from earlier works like 'Love & Dreaming', 'Everything that touches us', & 'Vox Lumens'.

She filmed over 90 couples kissing, edited over 8 screens in a 45 minute continuous loop, each screen showing a different sequence. This will be shown for the first time at Britomart Station during ARTWEEK on October 17th, and after that in the ARTBOX on the Queen's Wharf until the end of November.