Photojournalism Now

June 02, 2017

Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - 2nd June, 2017

This week Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up is live from Auckland for the 14th annual Auckland Festival of Photography.

Coming in to land (C) Alison Stieven-Taylor

Special feature:
Auckland Festival of Photography

Turangawaewae
(C) Rona Ngahuia Osborne & Dan Mace
Until 16 July Corban Estate Arts Centre, Henderson

I arrived in Auckland yesterday for the opening night of the 14th annual Auckland Festival of Photography. The main event was at Silo 6, which is an amazing venue that is literally inside a disused silo down on the wharf. Remembering my past experience, I rugged up against the antipodean winter, made even colder by being inside a concrete silo! The wine flowed and the great turn out filled the silo with a heartwarming buzz. What a treat to view such extraordinary work curated by Bangladeshi photojournalist and activist Shahidul Alam on this year's festival theme of Identity.

Shahidul Alam pictured with work by Shahria Sharmin. This is my favourite in the Identity show Shahidul curated. This series "Call Me Heena" tells a very intimate story of the Hijras, people who identify as third gender. Helena (pictured) befriended Shahria and invited her to document her life and that of her community. Shahria, a Bangladeshi photographer who came second in the Alexia Foundation Student Grant category 2014, says this body of work is an "attempt to show the beauty in Hijras' lives" and breakdown prejudices and misperceptions.
(C) Alison Stieven-Taylor

Also on show at Silo 6 is the work from this year's festival commission winner Janet Lilo. Really extraordinary and a definite must see on your exhibition list. Festival Director Julia Durkin is pictured below with part of one of Janet's pieces.

Festival Director Julia Durkin (C) Alison Stieven-Taylor

Looking around the venue, for a moment I thought I was in Australia, there were so many familiar faces! Moshe Rosenzveig from Head On was there along with the festival's general manager Anita Schwartz and team member Stephen. Photographer and poet Judith Crispin (pictured below) was also there, which blew me away given I'd just finished reviewing her book on the flight over! Ingetje Tadros (from Broome) was there also minus her luggage, including her books. Her work is on show as part of the Identity projections series and she was a speaker at Photobook Friday at the Auckland Central Library. Luckily her books arrived in time! Jim and Sue Dooley were also in attendance. They're from New York, but we're claiming them as our own as they've been to Australia numerous times and we had a great catch up in Melbourne last week.

Opening night at Silo 6 (above). Festival Director Julia Durkin (left) needed a stool to see above the crowd. (C) Alison Stieven-Taylor

Alexia Foundation's Jim Dooley and Shahidul Alam (C) Alison Stieven-Taylor

Australian photographer and poet Judith Crispin (C) Alison Stieven-Taylor

Sue and Jim Dooley (C) Alison Stieven-Taylor

One of the highlights of the evening was meeting Mayumi Suzuki whose handmade book The Restoration Will is exquisite in its use of beautiful Japanese papers, found images, textures, and hidden folds. The haunting story behind the book, the loss of her parents in Tōhoku in the 2011 tsunami, makes the work even more extraordinary and incredibly brave.

Mayumi Suzuki (C) Alison Stieven-Taylor

Friday heralded a clean, crisp morning. A few showers and patches of blue. I felt right at home, the weather not dissimilar to Melbourne. By the end of the day it was raining so heavily I thought I was in the tropics, minus the warmth!

In the afternoon Jim Dooley, of the Alexia Foundation and I were guests of radio personality Wallace Chapman. We pre-recorded an interview about the challenges and opportunities facing photojournalism and social documentary photography, which airs this Sunday on Chapman's show (Radio NZ 7am-midday). What fun! I love talking about photojournalism and being able to engage with Jim, who is a font of knowledge, and Wallace who was an entertaining host, gave me an ideal opportunity to indulge in one of my favourite subjects.

Friday afternoon I sat down with Shahidul Alam to catch up with his news - last time we spoke was at Head On Photo Festival in 2014 when I interviewed him about his work Crossfire. Look out for my review on the Auckland Festival of Photography in Pro Photo magazine where my interview with Shahidul will feature in part. I'll also post the full interview here in the coming weeks.

To wrap up today's post, here are a selection of random photographs from various exhibitions. I'm looking forward to seeing more over the weekend and encourage Aucklanders to get out and see as much of this amazing festival as you can. At the opening night one of the city councillors spoke (can't recall his name as when politicians usually talk I zone out). But this speech was engaging and heartfelt and clearly demonstrated the City of Auckland's commitment to the festival, which is great to see.

Real Pictures: Imaging XX
Until 30 June
Gus Fisher Gallery
74 Shortland Street,
Auckland City

Aftermath
Studio 541
541 Mount Eden Road
Auckland
Until 12 June

May 26, 2017

Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - 26 May, 2017

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - the 14th Auckland Festival of Photography, farewell to Stills Gallery in Sydney, and last days to see #dysturb's exhibition in Melbourne.

Festival:
Auckland Festival of Photography
1-24 June

Next week I'll be blogging live from the 14th annual Auckland Festival of Photography. This week a few images from two feature exhibitions, one curated by noted Bangladeshi photojournalist and activist Shahidul Alam on this year's theme, Identity.

The other, a group show Ata Te Tangata curated by Rosanna Raymond and featuring works by indigenous Aoteroa New Zealand photographers including two of the past recipients of the Festival's annual commission, Russ Flatt and Tanu Gago. The Festival opens Thursday 1st June. See the Festival website for all the details.

Group Show curated by Shahidul Alam.
Featuring: J.D. Okhai Ojeikere, Dina Goldstein, Pushpamala N, Kim Hak, Çağdaş Erdoğan and Shahria Sharmin.

Silo 6, Silo Park, Auckland City

Ata Te Tangata

Farewell: Sydney
Curtain Call - Stills Gallery,

After 16 years Stills Gallery in Paddington (Sydney) is to close its doors. It's a sad day for photography, another nail in the coffin, and perhaps indicative of the maturity of the photography collector market in this country. I have enjoyed many shows at Stills, a marvellous space and one I hope may continue as an art space. Congratulations to the team at Stills for flying the flag for so long.

In the gallery's final exhibition Curtain Call, "we are taking the opportunity to look back over the history of the gallery to present the mother of all salon hangs featuring over 70 artists from over the 26 years of exhibitions. Here is a selection of the works on show.

Michael Light, The Moon Seen From 1000 Miles, Showing Farside Highlands; Photographed by Kenneth Mattingly, Apollo 16, April 16-27, 1972, 1972/1999, digital type C print, 100 x 100cm. Courtesy of the artist and STILLS Gallery, Sydney.

Pat Brassington, Going, 2010, pigment print, 100 x 72cm. Courtesy of the artist and STILLS Gallery, Sydney.

Brenda L Croft, full/blood, pigment print, 111.2 x 90.5cm. Courtesy of the artist and STILLS Gallery, Sydney.

Justine Varga, Carry-on, type C hand print, 97 x 78cm. Courtesy of the artist and STILLS Gallery, Sydney.

Mark Kimber They never, never wake again who sleep upon your bed!, 2012, pigment print, 40 x 40cm. Courtesy of the artist and STILLS Gallery, Sydney.

Robyn Stacey, Surrender (blue), 2001, type C print, 183 x 123cm. Courtesy of the artist and STILLS Gallery, Sydney.
Until 30 June
Stills Gallery
36 Gosbell Street
Paddington

Exhibition: Melbourne

#whereilaymyhead - #dysturb
Last Days

This exhibition features the work of nine photojournalists, in paste-ups on the street and on the walls of Hillvale Gallery in the inner Melbourne suburb of Brunswick: Ismail Ferdous, Malin Fezehai, Barat Ali Batoor, Daro Sulakauri, Emin Ozmen, Ashley Gilbertson, Jane Hahn, Laura Boushnak and Alexandra Rose Howland. (Below: photos from the opening night)

And at McKinnon Secondary College (below)

Ends 28 May

Hillvale Gallery
342D Albert Street
Brunswick

Check out Dysturb's new website for more information on what this innovative group is doing.

May 18, 2017

Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - 19 May 2017

This week on Photojournalism Now: Friday Round Up - the fabulous and expansive Festival of Photography at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) featuring Bill Henson, William Eggleston, Patrick Pound, Ross Coulter, Zoe Croggon and more is now on. This is a really wonderful opportunity to see an eclectic selection of photography, some of which you'll love and others you'll loathe, but isn't that the beauty of art! And it's all FREE. Give yourself half a day at least to get through it all.

Special Feature: Melbourne
Festival of Photography - NGV

Bill Henson
I love these landscape works of Henson's and they look magnificent in the gallery which has been painted a deep grey that allows the works to draw you in with their quiet majesty. Until 24 August.

Untitled 2008/09
inkjet print
127 x 180 cm
© Bill Henson

Untiled 2009/10 2009–2010
Inkjet print National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australia Artist, 2011 (2012.9)
© Bill Henson

Untitled 2008/09 inkjet print 127 x 180 cm
© Bill Henson

William Eggleston: Portraits
There's something so quirky and offbeat about Eggleston's work that you can't help but smile at the absurdity of it (if not the photograph itself, you'll get a laugh out of the often ridiculous curatorial explanations). Of course there is nostalgia now attached to these images which capture and reflect culture themes of a particular time in America that has now passed. Until 18 June.

Untitled (Memphis, Tennessee), c.1969-71 Dye-transfer print, 55.5 x 36.8cm

Wilson Centre for Photography

Untitled (the artist’s uncle, Adyn Schuyler Senior, with assistant and driver, Jasper Staples, in Cassidy Bayou, Sumner, Mississippi), 1969-70

Pigment print, printed 2016, 111.8 x 152.4cm

Courtesy the Eggleston Artistic Trust and David Zwirner, New York/London

Untitled, c.1965-9
Pigment print, printed 2016, 33.4 x 51cm Eggleston Artistic Trust
© Eggleston Artistic Trust

Untitled (Memphis, Tennessee), 1965 Dye-transfer print, 45.1 x 30.5cm Wilson Centre for Photography
© Eggleston Artistic Trust

Untitled, 1965-8
Dye-transfer print, printed 2004 30.5 x 45.1cm
Wilson Centre for Photography © Eggleston Artistic Trust

Patrick Pound: The Great Exhibition

(at Ian Potter Gallery Federation Square)

This exhibition is crazy in the most delightful way. Pound, who must be an eccentric character to collect other people's photos, has amassed an unbelievable collection, which is presented in groups - pictures where people have been cut out, faces burned or scratched, removing their identity in an attempt to erase them from the lives of those who have cast out these images; pictures that feature items such as lamps; pictures where the camera case or the photographer's hand is in view; pictures that have been screwed up and tossed out; and those that feature pairs. Stuff that most people would pass by hold fascination for Pound who keeps all of these bits and pieces carefully filed away in boxes. Love it. Until 30 July.

Patrick Pound
New Zealander/Australian 1962–
The photographer’s shadow 2000–17 (detail)
Collection of the artist
Courtesy of Station, Melbourne, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington and Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland © Patrick Pound

Damaged 2008−17 (detail)
Collection of the artist
Courtesy of Station, Melbourne, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington and Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland © Patrick Pound

The hand of the photographer 2007−17 (detail)
Collection of the artist
Courtesy of Station, Melbourne, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington and Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland © Patrick Pound

The hand of the photographer 2007−17 (detail)
Collection of the artist

Courtesy of Station, Melbourne, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington and Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland © Patrick Pound

Pairs (and the double) 2016−17 (detail)

Collection of the artist

Courtesy of Station, Melbourne, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington and Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland

Damaged 2008−17 (detail)
Collection of the artist
Courtesy of Station, Melbourne, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington and Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland © Patrick Pound

Lamps 2016–17 (detail)

Collection of the artist

Courtesy of Station, Melbourne, Stills Gallery, Sydney, Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington and Melanie Roger Gallery, Auckland

Zoë Croggon: Tenebrae

Melbourne artist Zoë Groggon was commissioned by the NGV to create these photo collages that draw on themes of the physical body and the environment. It's an interesting, abstract collection that is visually engaging. Until 30 July.

Bow 2013

Collection of the artist

Courtesy of the artist and Daine Singer, Melbourne © Zoë Croggon

Fonteyn 2012

digital type C print

102.8 x 99.9 cm

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Purchased with funds arranged by Loti Smorgon for Contemporary Australian Photography, 2013 (2013.699) © Zoë Croggon

Kink 2015

Collection of the artist

Courtesy of the artist and Daine Singer, Melbourne © Zoë Croggon

Ross Coulter: Audience
This black and white photographic series documents audience members who were photographed in more than seventy Melbourne galleries and museums between 2013 and 2016. The thing I found most interesting about this exhibition was recognising people I knew in the pictures and working out where the spaces were. Until 16 July.