'End of Decade - 1979' exhibition by Colin W. Anstis, Photospace Gallery, 11 Aug-9 Sept 2023

'End Of Decade - 1979' exhibition and book poster, Colin W. Anstis

'End of Decade - 1979' exhibition extended to 7th October

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.

Colin W. Anstis - 'Hot Rod Show, Wellington' (1979)

Colin W. Anstis - 'NZ Railways Workshops signage, Woburn, Lower Hutt' (1979)