Book review by  of 'End of Decade - 1979' by David Famularo
"Anstis focused on the ordinariness of life in New Zealand in 1979, a time when we would have considered ours a rather boring and dull culture, and reveals it to have been far from ordinary four decades later."

'End of Decade - 1979' opens in Room 3 of Photospace Gallery on Friday 11th August, 5pm-7pm. You are most welcome to attend. (Alannah Gunter's exhibition 'Travelling Light' is also opening in Gallery Room 1.)
Colin's exhibition includes A2-sized archival pigment prints of 11 of the photos from his book of the same title.
Copies of the book are available for $45.00 - payment by Eftpos, Paywave, Visa, Mastercard.

Photographer's statement:
The origins of my exhibition have their foundation in my book " End of Decade 1979" being a collection of 133 images of Wellington City and the Greater Wellington Region taken by me in early 1979; the book was self-published in 2022. 

The actual origin of everything was my attendance at a Photo-Forum photography workshop in early January 1979
(conducted by noted photographer John B. Turner). Following the workshop I undertook a part-time, four-month photographic project mainly of Wellington City and the Wairarapa, which resulted in, to name but a few, images of a fruit and vegetable market, a hot rod show, an Anzac Day parade, Wellington wharf, a fire brigade callout, and various race meetings. This culminated in the publishing of my book some 43 years later and, now, a kind invitation from Photospace Gallery to exhibit some of those images.

I have had a lifelong interest in photography, but would be the first to admit this hasn't always necessarily  translated into the taking of especially large numbers of photographs. I have a particular interest in documentary photography, especially the images associated with the US Farm Security Administration Agency during the 1930's Great Depression, incl. the photographs of Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and Arthur Rothstein. Images taken over the decades by many photographers engaged by the Magnum Photo agency are another area of interest. New Zealand photographers I admire incl. Brian Brake, John B. Turner and Ans Westra.

I am a resident of the leafy town of Cambridge, N.Z., and have a son and daughter who live in Tauranga.

Travelling Light - artist's statement

The digital interconnection of the world has effectively erased geographical barriers, as a virtual map of webcams allows us to connect in real-time with remote, yet carefully framed, landscapes. For over a decade, my art practice has delved into the spatial and temporal poetics of remote, networked cameras, primarily through photomedia and live-streaming video installations. These artworks reflect upon the transportive capabilities of outdoor cameras, not only in regard to vicarious travel but also in the manner that spaces of the imagination and the virtual can overlap and interweave. Travelling Light brings together three bodies of work that employ these devices in different ways.

The Proliferation of Nows (2014–18) is comprised of circles created from simultaneous screenshots of skies that I captured from webcams worldwide. The rings that compose the circle all align to a particular moment in time. Each circle is temporarily static–yet spatially stratified–despite depicting the immaterial sky, a symbol long associated with the dreamlike, ephemeral and boundless. They allude to portholes and explore the aesthetic experiences a viewer undergoes as their consciousness shifts between physical, virtual and psychological spaces.

The Line of Concurrence (2014–15) features collages constructed from images captured simultaneously on webcams at multiple locations (varying capacities to capture resolution, light and colour). These works reflect not only on the fragmentation of our world and its digital connectivity but also on the human longing to see beyond the horizon. While the physical horizon always remains beyond our reach, webcams extend it in a virtual sense, enabling our eyes to traverse cyberspace and discover new vistas. This series, created from snapshots of virtual journeys, examines the impact that technology has on our perception of space and time.

Luminous Forest (2020–2023) was created using wildlife cam-trap photographs from the Czech Republic. Mainly taken at night, these images offer a glimpse into a world often hidden from view. When a wild animal wandered into the camera’s view, motion sensors would trigger its shutter and the captured image would instantly be emailed to the forest ranger monitoring them, who very generously cc’d me into this system. I have reinterpreted these images by rephotographing them on an LCD screen and then further enhancing them with digital techniques that emulate traditional darkroom processing. Luminous Forest seeks to highlight the ways in which technology mediates our experience and shapes our understanding of the natural world.

Alannah Gunter - Bio

Alannah Gunter is a New Zealand artist based in Brisbane, Australia. She holds a BA(Hons) Photography from Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom; a Master of Fine Art, Massey University; and a PhD Visual Arts, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University. Alannah has lectured in photography and photomedia at Massey University, Victoria University, and Queensland College of Art, Griffith University.

'Travelling Light' opens in Room 1 of Photospace Gallery on Friday 11 August, 5pm-7pm, and runs until 9 September, 2023.
Alannah Gunter has exhibited at Photospace Gallery in 1999 and 2001 (solo exhibitions), and in various group exhibitions since then.