Conversations with NZ Photographers

A great conversation with Kate van der Drift. Cameraless Photography. Waikato. Raglan, Aotearoa, New Zealand, Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A lovely conversation with Sara Orme about her journey in photography and her forthcoming publication, Kaumāua. From her website:Sara Tautuku Orme (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Tarawhai, Ngāti Whakaue – Te Arawa) is a Tāmaki Makaurau-based photographer and social documentarian with a background in sociology and kaupapa Māori storytelling. Her work explores whakapapa, Māori identity, mana motuhake, and the enduring impacts of colonisation, often through intimate portraiture and oral histories. Sara has been exploring whanaungatanga through her lens for over two decades. Her work has been exhibited in Aotearoa, Australia, and New York, and is held in public collections such as Waikato Museum. Her most recent kaupapa, Kaumātua, records and preserves the kōrero whaiaro and mātauranga of Māori elders across Aotearoa. Rooted in tikanga and story sovereignty, the work combines large-format photographic portraiture with Māori oral histories. She has exhibited at Te Papa, Caelum Gallery (New York), and Blindside (Melbourne), and in 2025 contributed to He Waka Eke Noa at Tim Melville Gallery. She has twice been recognised by the Contemporary New Zealand Art Awards (2022, 2023), receiving a national award for her photographic work. Her forthcoming book, Kaumātua Aotearoa, will be published by Auckland University Press in 2026. Born in Ōtautahi, with whakapapa to Te Teko and Rotorua, Sara has lived in Tāmaki Makaurau for over 30 years, where she raised her tamariki and now her mokopuna. At home she is known as Sara, but on her marae, Ruaihona, in Te Teko, she is Hera — or, as some affectionately say, “the blonde.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

No annoying intros. Just a chat with a photographer. In this episode I speak to camera-less photographer (if that isn't an oxymoron?) Andrew Beck. We talk about his life as an artist, his background, his MA show at Massey, his move from camera to no camera for his art practice, working as an artist in Aotearoa, image as object, photography as sculpture, not being bothered by AI, coming up with ideas, site specific work, growing as an artist, collaborating, broken car windscreens and much more.Image: Adrian VercoeLinks to previous interviews:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlRkIFfsTWIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAVvVj3fNdQhttps://www.thisishere.nz/here-and-now/photography-backwards?utm_source=chatgpt.comGallery Representation:https://starkwhite.co.nz/artist/andrew-beck/Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/andrew_bec/?hl=enAndy SpainWebsiteInstagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Artist StatementI can recall my first encounter with Māori resentment towards colonisation in 1991. I was watching a One News story about the protests at Pākaitore over local Iwi’s claim to that area of land. I can still remember the first thought that occurred to me as a 12 year old Pākehā – “ohh get over it, that was ages ago”. I’m deeply saddened and embarrassed that my culture had fostered such an ignorant and unempathetic position. As a young Pākehā who thought New Zealand was a paradise decorated with cricket pitches and rugby fields, it was my first experience that all was not well in paradise and deep-seated tensions, resulting from colonial injustices remained unresolved.My experience is not isolated but is symbolic of how many Pākehā navigate their position in Aotearoa, New Zealand. The European control of the historical narrative has worked hard to leave out the destructive practices of colonisation in favour of the more comfortable settler narrative. This has left many of us ignorant and poorly equipped to understand what it means to be Pākehā and to navigate the relations between, and our shared history with Māori.As I have begun a journey to better understanding my identity as a Pākehā and place in Aotearoa, New Zealand I have confronted the European systems that were established through colonisation. Anne Salmond (p. 2) recognises how these European ‘forms of order’ are so often invisible as they have become the ‘common sense’ and everyday systems we use to structure our lives. Using photography’s strength of representation, I am holding these systems up for critique to highlight how they are culturally designed to serve Pākehā. As observed by Moana Jackson “There is a Westminster constitutional system shaped to serve Pākehā interests in England and then imposed here”. For Māori, this is “a foreign construct”.I am hoping that by representing this cultural imbalance in the control of power it can prompt other Pākehā to consider their understanding of history and place in Aotearoa, New Zealand.- Thomas Slade, 2023Thomas Slade - bioI am an artist who works with the medium of photography. I am currently living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, where I am completing a creative PhD at Massey University. My focus as an artist is on creating research-driven bodies of work and my current PhD practice examines my own Pākehā identity and the impact of colonisation in Aotearoa, New Zealand. My photography explores Pākehā culture and examines characteristics such as our rural heritage and relationship to land. I have exhibited my photography throughout New Zealand since 2013. I am an Associate Fellow of Higher Education and Learning (UKPSF Framework) and have over eight years of experience teaching photography at a tertiary level. I find this role to be a great support to my artistic practice and enjoy the opportunity to give back to current students the positive experience I have had in education. My future aims as an artist are to continue working in photography, research and education. Outside of my work I find great balance to the studio by competing in sports and getting lost in the mountains. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shelton began her career as a photojournalist working for daily newspapers, before deciding she wanted more control over her images and deciding to go to art school. As an artist, her work mixes conceptual and narrative traditions of photography. In large-scale, hyper-real photographs she explores histories of people and of places, often bringing forgotten or controversial histories to light. Shelton has also shown a steady interest in the nature of the archive, exploring the collections of others in her work.Shelton first came to attention with the series Redeye. Selected from thousands of photographs taken over a period of two years, the work document Auckland's art scene and its gallery openings, performances and underground events, especially those taking place around the artist-run space Teststrip. Described by the artist as a 'social diary', the series was described by Auckland Art Gallery photography curator Ron Brownson as 'some of the most inventive and risk taking in recent art in New Zealand'.A recent series, jane says, created for her 2016 exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery Dark Matter, features plants traditionally associated with treatments for women's fertility placed in ikebana-like arrangements against vibrant coloured backgrounds. The artist spent a year researching, collecting, arranging and photographing the plants, which include thistle, fennel, rhododendron and yarrow. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The cornerstones of Tim’s practice are the psychological landscape and social-political environment. His work straddles the genres of fine art and documentary photography. He is currently engaged in long-term projects relating to the aftermath of Christchurch’s devastating 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. He has exhibited nationally and internationally. Tim lectures in photography at the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts, New Zealand. He is the director and administrator of Place in Time: The Christchurch Documentary Project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Conversations with New Zealand Photographers - Edith Amituanai Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Photographer, Derek Henderson, in conversation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary is a long time member and face behind Photoforum. She came in for a visit in May 2018 to mainly talk about her (then) recent book, THE LONG VIEW (amongst other bodies of work she has completed). Mary is a quiet, thoughtful person which is embodied in her images and poetry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.