‘Girls Don’t Surf’ ‘Yeah Right’ (growing up in the surf town of Gisborne in the 1970s) Clayton Gibson

Exhibition/whakaaturanga

Dates: 17/10/26 - 17/01/27

Opening: 16/10/26 5:30 pm

This exhibition is a light-hearted, humorous and sometimes bleak look at what it was like to grow up in the Gisborne surf culture in the 1970s. A time of 501 Jeans, Twin Fins, Friday Night Shopping and the emergence of Disco and Punk Rock Music.

Sun-bleached hair, tanned and blistered bodies and rusty old cars were the norm. The surf culture was misogynistic in nature where girls were definitely discouraged from surfing and the powers that be discouraged surfing altogether.

Each painting is accompanied by a short story or poem written by the artist Clayton Gibson. These stories provide an insight into how the artist navigated these years as a teenager, growing up.