Föenander Galleries is delighted to present a new film exploring the life and practice of Roger Mortimer, offering a rare glimpse into the person behind one of Aotearoa’s most distinctive approaches to landscape painting. Directed by Benjamin Brooking and produced by Elle Föenander, the film moves between Mortimer’s home, garden, studio and the coastline that has shaped both his life and practice. Developed over seven months, it captures Mortimer not only as an artist, but as a lifelong surfer, gardener, husband, father and thoughtful observer of the world around him.
Mortimer’s relationship with the ocean began in childhood. He recalls writing a poem at seven after watching waves strike the rocks and, later, beginning a lifelong relationship with surfing. “Surfing has been great because you can throw a lot at the ocean without damaging anyone,” he reflects. “You go hard and you feel good, you relax.” This connection to the sea flows naturally into Mortimer’s artistic practice and his characteristic use of marine charts. Having personally explored much of the coastline depicted in his work, geography, memory and experience become intertwined with the fantastical narratives that unfold across his paintings. The film also takes us inside Mortimer’s studio, where he reflects on receiving his first watercolour set from his father and the enduring role painting has played in his life. One recurring figure in his work - a person treading water - is described by Mortimer as a self-portrait: “That’s my life. Just keep your head above water.”
While his recent works draw on the often confronting imagery of Dante’s Divine Comedy, Mortimer’s intention remains rooted in a search for beauty. “I want my work to be beautiful,” he explains, “but I also want it to have the narratives that concern me about being a human being.” Perhaps the film’s most revealing moment comes when Mortimer reflects simply that “being is very hard, just being.”
“Painting feels like a way of coping with being.” Through moments in the studio, garden and ocean, the film presents an intimate portrait of an artist whose work continues to return to landscape, beauty, suffering and the complexities of human existence.
Film Director: Benjamin Brooking, Popular
Producer: Elle Föenander
