A Different Light
First Photographs of Aotearoa
Published on 11. April 2024
Book
Hardback
284 pages
978-1-86940-994-4 (ISBN)
Description
In 1848, two decades after a French inventor mixed daylight with a cocktail of chemicals to fix the view outside his window onto a metal plate, photography arrived in Aotearoa. How did these 'portraits in a machine' reveal Maori and Pakeha to themselves and to each other? Were the first photographs 'a good likeness' or were they tricksters? What stories do they capture of the changing landscape of Aotearoa?
From horses laden with mammoth photographic plates in the 1870s to the arrival of the Kodak in the late 1880s, New Zealand's first photographs reveal Kingi and governors, geysers and slums, battles and parties. They freeze faces in formal studio portraits and stumble into the intimacy of backyards, gardens and homes.
A Different Light brings together the extraordinary and extensive photographic collections of three major research libraries - Tamaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum, Alexander Turnbull Library and Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena - to coincide with a touring exhibition of some of the earliest known photographs of Aotearoa.
Mau he kamera! Mau he kamera! Ma tatou he kamera!
From horses laden with mammoth photographic plates in the 1870s to the arrival of the Kodak in the late 1880s, New Zealand's first photographs reveal Kingi and governors, geysers and slums, battles and parties. They freeze faces in formal studio portraits and stumble into the intimacy of backyards, gardens and homes.
A Different Light brings together the extraordinary and extensive photographic collections of three major research libraries - Tamaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum, Alexander Turnbull Library and Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena - to coincide with a touring exhibition of some of the earliest known photographs of Aotearoa.
Mau he kamera! Mau he kamera! Ma tatou he kamera!
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Auckland
New Zealand
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 244 mm
Width: 193 mm
Thickness: 28 mm
Weight
1157 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-86940-994-4 (9781869409944)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Catherine Hammond is Hocken Librarian at the University of Otago Te Whare Wananga o Otakou. She manages the cultural collections at Hocken Library and the University Library's Special Collections. She was formerly head of documentary heritage at Tamaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum and research library manager at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki.
Shaun Higgins is curator pictorial at Tamaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum. He has worked on exhibitions for two decades, most recently Robin Morrison: Road Trip (2023). He has an MA, BA and PGDip from the University of Auckland in anthropology, art history and museum studies, and further qualifications in photography and care and identification of photographs.
Alongside the editors, A Different Light includes essays by Angela Wanhalla (Kai Tahu), professor of History at the University of Otago; Paul Diamond (Ngati Haua, Te Rarawa, Ngapuhi), curator, Maori at the Alexander Turnbull Library; Anna Petersen, curator, Photographs at Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena; and Natalie Marshall, formerly curator, Photographs at Alexander Turnbull Library.
Shaun Higgins is curator pictorial at Tamaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum. He has worked on exhibitions for two decades, most recently Robin Morrison: Road Trip (2023). He has an MA, BA and PGDip from the University of Auckland in anthropology, art history and museum studies, and further qualifications in photography and care and identification of photographs.
Alongside the editors, A Different Light includes essays by Angela Wanhalla (Kai Tahu), professor of History at the University of Otago; Paul Diamond (Ngati Haua, Te Rarawa, Ngapuhi), curator, Maori at the Alexander Turnbull Library; Anna Petersen, curator, Photographs at Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o Hakena; and Natalie Marshall, formerly curator, Photographs at Alexander Turnbull Library.