{{Short description|New Zealand artist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox artist | name = Gil Hanly | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM|size=100%}} | image = Gil Hanly, Dr Vanda Vitali and Dr Rodney Wilson (2007) (cropped).jpg | caption = Hanly in 2007 | birth_name = Gillian Mary Taverner | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1934}} | birth_place = Levin, New Zealand | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = | residence = | movement = | spouse = | awards = | patrons = | field = Photography | training = | works = }}
'''Gillian Mary Hanly''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZM|size=85%}} ({{nee}} '''Taverner'''; born 1934), known professionally as '''Gil Hanly''', is a New Zealand artist. She is best known for documenting protests and social movements in New Zealand's recent history, including the 1981 Springbok tour, the sinking of the ''Rainbow Warrior'' and the protests at Bastion Point.
== Early life == Hanly was born in 1934 in Levin, New Zealand. She has two younger brothers.<ref name="AWW profile">{{Cite journal|last1=Bailey|first1=Judy |author-link1=Judy Bailey|date=December 2018|title=A life in focus: Gil Hanly|journal=The Australian Women's Weekly|pages=36–41}}</ref> She grew up on a sheep farm between the sea and the town of Bulls, where the family worked hard to contribute.<ref name="AWW profile" /> She was home schooled until the age of 12, when she was sent to Nga Tawa school in Marton.<ref name="AWW profile" /> She attended the Ilam School of Fine Arts in Christchurch in the early 1950s, where she trained to be a painter.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://bowerbankninow.com/gil-hanly/|title=Gil Hanly|website=BowerbankNinow|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-01-04}}</ref> She met her husband Pat Hanly while at Ilam.<ref name="AWW profile" />
== Career == After she graduated from university she moved to London for five years, where she worked as a props buyer for a production company.<ref name="AWW profile" /> She and her husband lived and travelled around London, Spain and Italy during this period.<ref name="2025GilCollection">{{cite Q|Q137762871}}</ref> The family moved back to New Zealand in the early 1960s, living in Mount Eden, Auckland.<ref name="2025GilCollection"/> She worked at the University Bookshop for a decade,<ref name="AWW profile" /> and began working for the feminist publication ''Broadsheet'' in 1972.<ref name="Ngā Taonga">{{Cite web|title=Gil Hanly|url=https://www.ngataonga.org.nz/set/item/638|access-date=21 May 2021|website=Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision}}</ref>
== Artistic career ==
Hanly became one of the leading social documentary photographers in New Zealand in the 1970s and 1980s,<ref name="2025GilCollection"/> photographing events such as the 1981 Springbok tour,<ref name="Ngā Taonga"/> the sinking of the Greenpeace ship ''Rainbow Warrior'', the protest at Bastion Point, the 1984 land hīkoi, 1980s anti-nuclear protests, the beginning of the kōhanga reo Māori language immersion school movement, Homosexual Law Reform protests and Reclaim the Night marches.<ref name="AWW profile" /><ref name=":0" /> She has also documented the Queen Street riots and outrage at the murder of Teresa Cormack.<ref name="AWW profile" /> Her photographs of the women's movement in the 1970s and 1980s featured prominently in the exhibition at Auckland War Memorial Museum, ''Are We There Yet?''<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12121080|title=Gil Hanly: The protest photographer who made women seen|last=Knight|first=Kim|date=2018-09-14|work=The New Zealand Herald |access-date=2019-01-04|language=en-NZ|issn=1170-0777}}</ref> She says she is attracted to things "that were important".<ref name=":2" /> Hanly's photographic collections include images of public figures including the Topp Twins, Claudia Pond Eyley, Carole Shepheard, Hone Harawira and Helen Clark.<ref name="2025GilCollection"/>
She does not describe herself as a photographic artist, but rather she sees herself as a "documenter".<ref name=":1" />
== Recognition == In 1993 Hanly was awarded a New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 - Register of recipients {{!}} Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) |url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/our-programmes/new-zealand-royal-honours/new-zealand-royal-honours-system/types-new-zealand-royal-honours/other-distinctive-new-zealand-honours/suffrage-medal-register |access-date=2023-05-05 |website=www.dpmc.govt.nz |language=en}}</ref> In the 1999 Queen's Birthday Honours, Hanly was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to photography.<ref>{{cite web|date=7 June 1999|title=Queen's Birthday honours list 1999 (including Niue)|url=https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/queens-birthday-honours-list-1999-including-niue|access-date=5 July 2020|publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet}}</ref>
In 2014 and 2015, Hanly donated much of her photographic collections to the Auckland War Memorial Museum,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collection/object/1045124 |title=Gil Hanly photographs |website=Collections Online |publisher=Auckland War Memorial Museum |access-date=12 January 2026}}</ref> totalling approximately 144,000 images.<ref name="2025GilCollection"/> In 2019, she was awarded an Auckland Museum Medal, becoming a Companion of Auckland War Memorial Museum.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.massey.ac.nz/about/news/war-historian-honoured-with-museum-medal/ |title=War historian honoured with museum medal |date=6 March 2019 |publisher=Massey University |access-date=3 December 2022}}</ref>
== Personal life == Hanly was married to the painter Pat Hanly until he died in 2004.<ref name="AWW profile" /><ref name=":0" /> She has two children with Pat, and her husband had another daughter in a different relationship.<ref name=":1" /> While associated with the long-running feminist magazine ''Broadsheet'',<ref name="AWW profile" /><ref name=":0" /> Hanly does not consider herself a feminist.<ref name="AWW profile" />
Outside of social documentary photography, Hanly has an interest in photographing gardens.<ref name="AWW profile" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11120830|title=Michele Hewitson Interview: Gil Hanly|last=Hewitson|first=Michele|date=2013-09-06|work=The New Zealand Herald |access-date=2019-01-04|language=en-NZ|issn=1170-0777}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/discover/collections/search?f=collection%3AGil+Hanly+Photographic+Archive Gil Hanly Photographic Archive] at the Auckland War Memorial Museum
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Category:1934 births Category:Ilam School of Fine Arts alumni Category:Living people Category:New Zealand photographers Category:New Zealand women photographers Category:Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit Category:People educated at Nga Tawa Diocesan School Category:People from Levin, New Zealand Category:Recipients of the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993