Redressing the Balance

Women artists remain dramatically underrepresented in Australia and New Zealand’s art institutions. The recent 2022 Countess Report revealed women account for just 33.6 percent of artists exhibited in state galleries across Australia, while making up nearly two-thirds of visual arts graduates. In major museums, the figure drops to a mere 30.5 percent. The disparities are even more pronounced in permanent collections, with women artists comprising only 25 percent of Australian art collections in major institutions. New Zealand faces similar challenges, with Creative New Zealand noting in their latest diversity report that specific initiatives are needed to support women artists and their work. Their commitment to improving diversity has led to tracking gender representation in funding applications, where they found more women than men apply for arts funding, but established institutions and artists still receive the majority of support. Against this backdrop of persistent inequality, some galleries like Sanderson Contemporary are taking deliberate action to shift the balance.

“We wanted to promote mainly women artists this year,” says Lydia Cowpertwait when discussing Sanderson Contemporary’s presentation at the 2025 Aotearoa Art Fair. “This is an important part of Sanderson’s ethos as a gallery, and my background as a curator.” It’s a statement that encapsulates both the gallery’s mission and its director’s passion for addressing gender imbalance in the art world.

The Auckland gallery’s stand will feature four women artists at different career stages, creating what Cowpertwait describes as “a wonderful contrast and interest.” This approach mirrors Sanderson’s broader philosophy. “The gallery is proud to support some of Aotearoa New Zealand’s more senior artists working today. The gallery is also known for its Emerging Artists exhibition that supports young artists and new graduates from an early stage in their career.”

This commitment to nurturing artistic talent across career stages has created a unique ecosystem at Sanderson. “Some of our represented artists have been with the gallery since its inception or from showing in the Emerging Artists exhibition – so they have grown with the gallery, which is special to see and to be a part of.”

Cowpertwait’s background in promoting women artists made her a natural fit for Sanderson. “One of the aspects of Sanderson that attracted me from early on was that it was run by women and the gallery represents a fairly even percentage of female and male-identifying artists. Sadly, even in this day and age, this is unusual for dealerships.”

The four artists featured in the AAF presentation exemplify this diversity of practice and experience. “Molly Timmins(Ngāpuhi, Pākehā) is a young painter who was recently granted the Early Career Fund – Toi Tipu Toi Rea from Creative New Zealand. Her work explores her Ngāpuhi and Pākehā heritage through the depiction of gardens,” explains Cowpertwait. “Mickey Smith is a conceptual photographer from the United States who recently won the Our Place Magazine Merit Award with the Molly Morpeth Canaday Awards in NZ. Katherine Throne is an expressionist painter whose works explore flowers as a symbol of femininity – looking at themes of nurture but also strength and resilience. And Kāryn Taylor produces self-illuminating light boxes that are intense in colour, with glowing lines of light that question our perception of reality.”

Cowpertwait has previously collaborated with international curator Marcelle Joseph on exhibitions celebrating women artists and collectors – experience she brings to her role at Sanderson. “Having a background in supporting women artists means I often view things through that lens,” she notes. The gallery has also cultivated a strong network of female collectors. “We want to grow this network and have been supporting young collectors through an incentive programme or MyArt, which has been really positive.”

This focus on women in the art world aligns with broader economic shifts. “There is a growing number of women who are driving economic growth worldwide. 2023 was dubbed ‘The Year Of The Woman’ because of this,” says Cowpertwait. “By 2030 it’s expected that women are going to control over 60% of the world’s assets, which is a serious power shift. I’m looking forward to seeing how things change and being a part of it.”

She is encouraged by developments in the New Zealand art scene. “There are some great groups in NZ including MotherMother, who promote themselves as a non-hierarchical and intergenerational initiative with an inclusive philosophy that offers support and visibility for women artists and our arts community. Curators like Julia Waite at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki are championing women artists through their exhibition programme, which was exemplified recently in the exhibition Modern Women: The Flight of Time.” These initiatives align with Creative New Zealand’s diversity goals, which recognise the need for greater equity in arts representation across gender, ethnicity, and geography.

Looking to Sanderson’s future, Cowpertwait plans to continue the gallery’s balanced approach. “I would like to continue Sanderson’s focus on supporting artists at all career stages. We will continue to promote women artists and their work, but it’s important to me to have cross-sectional representation at the gallery and as much diversity as possible, so this is something that we will be continuing to work towards with our programme.”