Artspace Aotearoa is proud to present Guilty Pleasures by Bronte Perry as our second mural project since our relocation to the ground level on Karangahape Road. Responding to the T junction of Karangahape Road and East Street in Newton, the mural project reflects the dynamism and flamboyance of this historically layered place, whilst staying attuned to the intent of making new histories with those who have a socio-political responsibility to its future.

Guilty Pleasures is a new work by Bronte Perry spanning the length of Artspace Aotearoa’s East Street wall. The banners make use of digital and 3D rendering technologies to reflect on and imagine Karangahape Road’s queer night spaces: past, present and future.

In 1963, the first strip club on Karangahape Road opened called the Pink Pussycat. Soon after, Karangahape Road’s reputation was one of infamy because of the sex industry, and eventually the gay clubs that followed. Perry collages Karangahape Road’s history of night spaces, from the Pink Pussycat to private social clubs. Today when these histories might seem hidden or sometimes lost, Perry’s statement ‘My god given right to sin’ reminds us that these histories and their cultures live on in our bodies, and calls on us to embrace the deviancy Karangahape Road was once renowned for. My body is a queer history museum.

Bronte Perry

Bronte Perry is a South Auckland born and bred artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau. They graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours from Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland. Throughout their multidisciplinary practice Perry embodies whakapapa, whanaungatanga and lived experiences to explore socio-political contexts.