Sight, Unseen Catalogue

Allan McDonald Meg Porteous Haruhiko Sameshima David Straight

Curated by Tim J. Veling

S I G H T, U N S E E N at The Welder Meg Porteous, Allan McDonald, Haruhiko Sameshima, David Straight

Sight, Unseen is the first exhibition to be held

When In Situ’s BNZ Centre lease expired at the

by In Situ Photo Project in the gallery space situated at

end of 2016 and council consents to occupy a new site

The Welder, Welles Street, Christchurch. Previously occu-

within the same building proved too costly, the gallery

pying an untenanted commercial retail space within the

went into forced hiatus. It was during this time that Wat-

new BNZ Centre on Hereford Street – with busy, shared

kinson and property developers James Stringer and Sam

throughway entrance to Christchurch’s iconic Scorpio

Rofe of Box112 – a company actively involved in conversa-

Bookshop – In Situ has fast established itself within New

tion around arts and cultural uses for many of their char-

Zealand’s photographic arts scene with an impressive

acter and heritage CBD properties – discussed the possi-

exhibition and public programme. This success is testa-

bility of utilising one of their buildings on Welles Street as

ment to the desire of the local and national arts commu-

an arts space. When conversations started, the building

nity for gallery spaces dedicated to showing photography,

was being utilised as a welder’s workshop – its silver and

but also the exceptional dedication of its director, Han-

orange exterior, with protruding sign that casts a sundi-

nah Watkinson and the collective of like-minded people

al-like drop shadow as the sun moves, is something of

that have supported her in making it happen.

a local icon – but as the business owner had decided to

My intention here is to not speak in platitudes,

retire, Box112 were looking to find ways to encourage peo-

but acknowledge that In Situ’s success has been hard

ple into the area before the building’s ultimate redevelop-

fought. While one might expect the abundance of empty,

ment. That’s where In Situ and group of fellow artists and

commercial space within Christchurch’s CBD to pres-

craftspeople, MK Press, Sonder Leather, Kyla K. came in.

ent ample opportunity for arts initiatives to easily mount

For the foreseeable future, they will inhabit The Welder

‘pop-up’ shows, the reality is in stark contrast. Things

and create space for other people to use as artist studios.

like council consent processes, particularly the money

Before doing this though, over one-hundred years of soot

involved to get things setup in previously unutilised

and dust needed to be water-blasted off the walls, ancient

spaces, can present insurmountable hurdles. In Situ was

electrical wiring needed replacing and leaky roofs fixed.

fortunate to have the early backing of Colliers International

In the year 1880, the space now known as The

and Litchfield Holdings (namely Andrew Barclay and Nick

Welder was a blacksmith’s workshop. It is not known

and Sue Hunt), who saw investment in community arts as

when it transitioned to being home to the building’s

something essential to fostering a vibrant, culturally rich

namesake, but some clues as to the history of its occu-

inner-city that people actually what to inhabit. With Colliers

pants can be found by examining additions to the her-

giving In Situ free run of a busy space for twelve months,

itage masonry, or by considering the many relics stuck

funding was secured from Creative New Zealand and

to walls and noticeboards, left behind by the departed

Christchurch City Council Enliven Places Project Fund to

business owner. You’ll see a faded and dusty poster of

help develop and push the gallery’s mandate of showing,

the legendary John Britten superbike, next to a cartoon

facilitating and promoting the photographic medium.

depicting a fish in a blender, the caption reading “And

you think you’re under stress.” Looking further, there’s

or have them pointed out. Through the work exhibited,

hand-painted safety signage – well-weathered and utili-

we are presented with four very idiosyncratic views of our

tarian by design, positively artisanal by today’s digital pro-

everyday, vernacular culture. Be that within sites of tour-

duction standards – years of political satire cartoons and

ist activity, museums and parks; within utilitarian built

newspaper clippings lining the office space, as well as

environments and manufactured landscapes, domestic

a noticeboard headed ‘Welding Maintenance,’ covered

settings or retail spaces. We see aspects of ourselves

in photographs of metal parts showcasing handiwork

reflected in the cast-off goods sold in thrift shops, the

someone was obviously very proud of. That the building

smiling faces of models who front advertising campaigns

owners and new tenants have preserved these artefacts –

and the architecture in which all of this ‘stuff’ is housed.

the internal and external appearance of the building is to

Less celebration of fact than the promotion of looking,

be retained as it stands in further development – tells you

the kind best mediated by the technical processes of

something about the value they place on such signs of

photography and communicated in a print – this is where

built and material culture and heritage. With the history

the substance of In Situ’s powerful agenda lies – it is my

of the buildings occupation and use so plainly evident,

simple hope that the work helps build appreciation of the

it’s then inevitable the social and cultural fabric of the

everyday world we inhabit and culture in which we form

past will in some way will live on within a new generation.

part of, but is forever in caught it flux.

It is with this in mind that the Sight, Unseen took shape. For the first show in such a historically lay-

Tim J. Veling

ered space, a selection of work by four photographers

Ilam School of Fine Arts

was made that might help us see what otherwise often

University of Canterbury

lies hidden in plain sight; aspects of our built, material and visual culture that are so readily taken for granted, at least until we suddenly find ourselves without them,

HARUHIKO SAMESHIMA Haruhiko Sameshima is an exhibiting photogra-

Sameshima makes conscious reference to the language

pher, publisher, occasional writer, and part-time teacher

and history of photography. Of this, he states, “It is an

of photography. He immigrated to New Zealand from

attempt to deflect the common tendency to read photo-

Japan in 1973 and with his close colleague, Mark Adams

graphs simply as a transparent carrier of information. We

established Studio La Gonda on Auckland’s Karanga-

know language is never innocent of its own mechanics

hape Road in 1996. Educated at Elam School of Fine

and such open ended pictorial communication as photo-

Arts and graduating with an MFA in 1997, Sameshima

graphs also need to be treated with caution, or perhaps

has been part time tutor, lecturer and senior Lecturer in

with the playfulness normally reserved for a cartoon or

Photography at Elam most years since. He has also been

novel. This is a personal travelogue that charts not only

a long-term visiting lecturer at Auckland University of

the tourist sites that I have visited, but is a study of the

Technology and Unitec School of Design.

photographic language that was prevalent in forming the

Sameshima’s on-going photographic projects

ideas of a nation I found myself living in.”

include Eco-Tourism 1990 to present – an investigation

Sameshima has exhibited widely, notably in

of the touristic-construction of places and imagery of

the first International Triennial, Bright Paradise, curated

New Zealand, and Souvenir, an image gathering exercise

by Allan Smith, Auckland Art Gallery in 2001 and also

from the sites of tourist destinations around the globe. In

at AAG, Open Skies: Divided Horizons curated by Ron

these works, Sameshima contrasts photographs taken at

Brownson, 1997. Other major group exhibitions have

the source of tourism attractions – be that historic images

been held at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth,

of significance, documentation of its architecture or the

Gus Fisher Gallery, Te Tuhi Art Gallery, St Pauls and Auck-

natural phenomena, or phantasmagorical attractions like

land Museum, Auckland, and the National Art Gallery

theme parks and shopping malls – with the contempo-

and National Library, Wellington. Solo exhibitions have

rary unravelling of the tourism itself; the photographer

been held at Dunedin Public Art Gallery and McNamara

starring as the quintessential tourist.

Gallery, Whanganui.

In 2001 and 2007, Sameshima received Cre-

Sameshima was the managing editor and

ative New Zealand funding to research and complete a

publisher of PhoptoForum at 40:Counterculture, Clusters,

major book Bold Centuries: a photographic history album,

and Debates in New Zealand, Rim Books, 2014.

published by Rim Books and PhotoForum in 2009.

Bold Centuries features his photographs juxtaposed with found historical images, accompanied by a number of essays examining ways in which photographs depict social and physical environments to construct histories.

The work included in Sight, Unseen is a representative selection of images taken from this body of work.

The stylistic exploration of photography in Bold Centuries is an important aspect of the project, where

Mural of Pacific Migration Routes, Berenice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawai’i, 2003.

‘Ancient Kauri Kingdom’, Awanui, Northland, 1999.

Millbrook Resort, Golf course, Arrowtown, Central Otago, 1995.

ALLAN MCDONALD Allan McDonald is a photographer based

In relation to this, McDonald’s images in Sight,

in Auckland. He is a lecturer within the Photography

Unseen are chosen from two series, one Relocations and

and Media Arts programme at Unitec Institute of

Demolitions the other Point of Sale. Both of these series

Technology, Auckland.

come from an overarching archive that comprises as a has

common theme, images of artefacts and spaces that

worked on a number of community and collaborative

Throughout

his

career,

McDonald

are in transition. Generally, these spaces wear the marks

art projects that have been concerned with place and

of being “out of time” clearly upon their surfaces. As

social history. He currently works with a large

Budgett states, “Ironically these images record an archi-

archive of images from which he curates narratives of the

tecture already looking back, the eclectic turn of century

New Zealand vernacular.

styles already referring to times and places past, even

In an essay written to accompany his exhibition The Unstable City: On the Pleasures of Recollection – pub-

at the time of building. McDonald’s images capture the present on the point of change.”3

lished as a large, fold out exhibition catalogue-cum-poster

McDonald’s past exhibitions, installations and

– Jeanette Budgett speaks of McDonald’s work, stating,

curatorial projects include The Mercer Project: Forty Two

“In the fine art context, images of architecture contrast

Days, Mercer War Memorial, 1998, The Future of Auck-

starkly with the boosterism of commercial imagery. Con-

land, Artspace 2002, Terrain Vague: A Short History of Cre-

sider the implicit promises of glossy real estate ads and

ative Trespass, for the Auckland Festival of Photography,

designer home magazines. You too will have a happier or

2006, and Love and Food: The Family Photographs of Bob

more glamorous life if you live there.” While The Unstable

Raw, Corbans Estate Arts Center, Waitakere 2009. More

City as a body of work was prompted by Christchurch’s

recently he was included in Freedom Farmers at the Auck-

2010 and 2011 earthquakes, McDonald conceived it as

land Art Gallery, 2013.

1

a way of, “engaging with New Zealand’s architectural

McDonald’s work is included in the perma-

heritage and to draw attention to the scale of the poten-

nent collections of Auckland Art Gallery, Te Papa and

tial loss of buildings and the effect on the communities

the Chartwell Collection. He is represented by the Anna

that occupy them.” This is a common theme throughout

Miles Gallery, Auckland, who by the time Sight, Unseen

his large oeuvre. Even a cursory glance at the rich detail

has opened, will also have mounted an exhibition at The

contained within his images reveals much about not

National, Moorhouse Avenue, which will feature a related

only the value we place on architectural space, but also

selection of McDonald’s work.

the types of things people wish to surround themselves

1

2

with, whether they be purely practical and functional, ornamental, new or old. Most importantly, McDonald’s work asks us to consider what these spaces and objects

The Unstable City: On the Pleasures of Recollection, Jeanette Budgett, published by Wallace Arts Trust and Unitec on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name, The Pah Homestead, TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre, Auckland, 30 September to 23 November, 2014. Paragraph 3.

might reveal about the broader societal values to which

2

Ibid, Paragraph 1.

we subscribe.

3

Ibid, Paragrah 15.

Dunedin, 2012.

Over page: Carterton, 2010.

MEG PORTEOUS Taranaki,

published by Vice online, she states, “A successful image

New Zealand, and graduated from Ilam School of Fine

Meg

Porteous

was

born

in

[to] me is about colour, composition, all these technical

Arts, Canterbury, 2013. She also studied at the prestig-

things – but there’s also something about it you can’t put

ious Nova Scotia School of Art and Design, Canada.

your finger on. Something a little off about the image, but

Thematically, Porteous’ work explores the

something really right about it as well.”2 It’s a statement

often-overlooked or seemingly mundane aspects of every-

as confounding as the images themselves, but it’s at this

day life. The focus of her photographs is often an insignifi-

murky point of aesthetic tension the work’s strength lies.

cant or indeterminate place or subject that acts as a tran-

In 2016 Porteous was selected as New Zea-

sition point to other moments in time, where movement

land’s recipient of the Shiro Oni Studio Artist Residency,

or action actually occur. Shooting primarily with 35mm

Japan. She has exhibited in Christchurch, Canada and

film, and employing flash, framing and cropping tech-

more recently at Parlour Projects Gallery, Hawke’s Bay.

niques to heighten a sense of ambiguity in her images,

Her work is held in private collections throughout New

Porteous’ practice celebrates anachronistic forms of pho-

Zealand, and has been published online by The Heavy

tography. Her intense observation of quotidian life urges

Collective (AUS,) and Vice (www.vice.com.) Meg is

the viewer to consider what may or may not go unnoticed

currently based in Auckland.

within their everyday world.

1 www.eyecontactsite.com/ 2016/08/generational 2 https://www.vice.com/en_nz/article/mba4k4/this-new-zealandphotographer-captures-the-quiet-oddness-of-the-everyday

The photographs presented in this exhibition form a representative selection from her body of work, Apparatus, first exhibited at Parlour Projects, Hawke’s

Opposite: Head Office, 2015.

Bay, 2016. Speaking of the show as well as Porteous’ sub-

Over page: Lobby, 2015; Beach Leather, 2016.

ject matter and approach to image making, noted critic Peter Ireland states she, “eschewed [the social documentary approach] for a more free-wheeling response to the physical world, the work shaped less by social patterns than an awareness of photographic history, fashion and style.”1 In other words, the work is primarily concerned with seductive surface detail, colour and form, the framing and technical aspects of image construction serving to promote a heightened sense of enjoyment and satisfaction in the simple act of looking.

Like many of Porteous’ artistic influences, she is reluctant to ascribe too many words to her photographs, preferring instead to let viewers revel in sensuous details and ponder their often-oblique titles. In an article

DAV I D STRAIGHT David Straight is a photographer based in Auckland. Born in Christchurch and raised on the West Coast of the South Island, David graduated from Massey University School of Fine Arts, Wellington in 2002.

through city streets, but they are not things we usually care to celebrate.

Straight’s interest in the built environment started during his life as a street photographer in

The images presented in Sight, Unseen are

London and New York. Long and frequent wanderings on

taken from the book Vernacular: The Everyday Landscape

city streets lead to a greater understanding of the impor-

of New Zealand, a collaborative project by Straight and

tance of cities - of public space and public life, and the

Landscape Designer Philip Smith, published by Potton

city’s social and psychological importance. This has fol-

& Burton, 2015. The basis of Vernacular was to ask the

lowed through to documenting the built environment in

question, ‘what do we value in terms of landscape in

both personal and professional work, from an ongoing

Aotearoa, New Zealand?’ Straight and Smith assert that

exploration of the subtleties of the everyday landscape to

we often idolize the natural landscape; we use it to mar-

photographing architecture for some of New Zealand’s

ket ourselves to the rest of the world and emphasise its

leading architects.

importance to our collective psyche and sense of place. It

Straight’s books are held in the Asia Pacific

is their belief however that the built environment that sur-

Photobook Archive in Melbourne, and he has exhibited

rounds our everyday has as much impact on our cultural

as part of the Noorderlicht International Photo Festival

lives as the natural landscape we so cherish. Vernacular is

in Groningen, The Netherlands. He is currently working

an attempt to look more closely at parts of New Zealand’s

on a new project about the New Zealand architect John

landscape that are so readily taken for granted.

Scott, which will coincide with a major solo show at

In Straight’s images, we are presented with details such as the steps we walk up and the road-side markers that guide us on our highways. With an acute eye for detail and through seemingly effortless composition, he portrays them as important pieces of authorless design, showing us how we interact with our environment, from how we move within a landscape to how we build structures upon it. Straight’s images subtly hint at the mythology of the New Zealand sensibility; practical, functional, innovative, yet they also show us objects of beauty. Beyond that cursory reading of functionality, his photographs highlight these objects as important signifiers of our cultural landscape and heritage. In essence, these are images recognisable to all of us; they are motifs we all know from countless road trips and walks

Objectspace Gallery, Auckland in January, 2019.

Roadside Marker, Mahia Peninsula, 2014.

Driveway, Coromandel, 2014.

Faceted Stair, Wellington, 2014.

In Situ Photo Project is a dedicated photography

Lizzie Parker and Frankie Parker-Veling for

gallery exhibiting work by emerging artists and

their generous support and encouragement.

established New Zealand photographers. Our

In particular, he would like to thank Hannah

vision is to contribute to the expanding cultural

Watkinson and In Situ Photo Project for cham-

platform of the city, to attract and keep talented

pioning the photographic arts and inspiring

individuals in Christchurch and to provide

others to look, think and connect with the world

opportunities for emerging photographers

around them.

to showcase their work. In Situ Photo Project currently resides in The Welder Collective,

In Situ Photo Project

Welles St, a community creative studio and

The Welder Collective

gallery space.

22 Welles St, Christchurch mail@ispp.nz

In Situ Photo Project has been made possible through the support of many people (particularly with support from Creative New Zealand, Council Enliven Places Project Fund and Ilam School of Fine Arts,) but in the inception of The Welder Collective we would particularly like to thank: Sam Rofe & James Stringer of Box112, Rupert Curry, Douglas Watkinson and the individuals who make up The Welder Collective community.

Tim J. Veling would like to thank Ilam School of Fine Arts and the University of Canterbury, Haruhiko Sameshima, Allan McDonald, Meg Porteous, David Straight, Mark Adams,

www.ispp.nz