Francis McWhannell is a freelance writer and curator from Aotearoa New Zealand currently based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Museums and Cultural Heritage from the University of Auckland, where he is currently completing a Master of Arts in Art History. He has written for various arts and culture magazines and websites, including Art New Zealand, Art News New Zealand, and The Spinoff. He contributes regularly to The Pantograph Punch, where he was Visual Arts Editor from 2016 to 2017.
Francis has contributed essays for exhibitions at public and commercial galleries, including Painting: a transitive space (ST PAUL St Gallery Three, 2016) and Denys Watkins: Dynamo Hum (Gus Fisher Gallery, 2017). He is co-author of two books on historical photography, Bitter Fruit: Australian photographs to 1963 (Michael Graham-Stewart, 2017) and Early West African photography (forthcoming). His exhibitions include Postcards from Papatoetoe (Old Papatoetoe mall, 2016), Fluid structures: Watercolour group show (Parlour Projects, 2017), and Projects 2019: Whanaungatanga (Auckland Art Fair, 2019).
