Exhibitions

Kin & Personals – Richard Brimer and Bruce Foster

Thursday, 29 July – Sunday, 12 September 2010
10.30 - 4.30 daily, Shed 11 Wellington Waterfront

A new combined exhibition at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery explores the dynamics of family relationships, and significant turning points in peoples’ lives.

In Kin, developed for the McNamara Gallery in Wanganui for the New Zealand Portrait Gallery, the work of nineteen contemporary photographers graphically demonstrates the elements of kinship as seen through the lens of the professional photographer. All photographers are currently practising and their subjects are close relatives spanning the years 1973-2009. Many of New Zealand’s foremost photographers are represented, including Laurence Aberhart, Anne Noble, Fiona Pardington, Peter Peryer and Ans Westra.

In Personals, Hastings photographer Richard Brimer’s 20 large portrait subjects are caught in images which reveal significant, life-shaping events in their lives, which are exemplified in the companion texts. Both image and text work together to isolate moments, offering the viewer the chance to contemplate the subject as they appear at that instant and to reflect on the possibilities of their inner worlds. Some are well-known- others simply people with interesting lives and stories.