Spanning almost twenty years of work, Jealous Saboteurs is the first major survey exhibition of London-based, New Zealand-born artist, Francis Upritchard. From her early collections of mock burial artefacts, to primate-like figures constructed from discarded fur coats, and her more recent enigmatic gurus, Upritchard has developed a highly idiosyncratic language of sculpture that frequently borrows from craft practices and a broad range of references from the deep recesses of museum collections, folklore and counter-cultures to high modernist design.

This exhibition includes little-seen and significant early artworks, her arresting sloths, a selection of curious personal and ritualistic artefacts and talismans, small sculptures accompanied by their bespoke furniture supports, as well as recent life-size, free-standing technicolour figures, such as Blue and Green Scarf (2013) and Sun Worship (2013), which blur the lines between the archaic and futuristic.

Francis Upritchard: Jealous Saboteurs is a joint project with City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi and has been curated by their Chief Curator Robert Leonard and MUMA's Director Charlotte Day. The Wellington iteration of Jealous Saboteurs is supported by City Gallery Foundation.

Exhibition venues and dates:

• Monash University Museum of Art, 13 February – 16 April 2016
• City Gallery Wellington, 28 May – 16 October 2016
• Christchurch Art Gallery, 1 April – 16 July 2017
• Dunedin Public Art Gallery, 12 August – 26 November 2017