Q: What connects pop group The Mockers, a murder over stolen pigs, and the introduction of fishing quotas in 1980's New Zealand?
A: Timaru
The Hoover Diaries is a 40-minute film by Europe-based New Zealand artist Amanda Newall. Connecting three seemingly disparate events that occurred during the artist's teenage years in Timaru, the film is a reflection on traumatic awakenings in small town New Zealand in an era of liberal economic reform. The Hoover Diaries seamlessly weaves contemporary interviews with local fishermen and former 80's pop star Andrew Fagan with home movies and archival footage from 1980s televison news and teenage pop programme Radio with Pictures. Throughout, the complex and dark narrative is filtered through Newall's surreal practice of costuming herself and others in bespoke fish suits.
