Andrea Gardner works in the realm of staged photography and mixed media sculpture.

For her photography she creates diorama-like set-ups in her studio which consists of old paintings, artificial plants, taxidermied animals, soil, insects and people. Both her photography and her sculpture explore our relationship with animals, nature and the environment.

The Greenbench is a project room in Whanganui run by artists Julian Priest and Sophie Klerk. It was founded in 2008 and moved to a new public space in June 2009. The Greenbench is a multifunctional space of 172 square meters in central Whanganui including studios and a permanent project/exhibition space. The Greenbench hosts events, screenings and workshops, puts on contemporary art exhibitions as well as being a space for developing artist projects and collaborations, with visiting national and international artists.