In 2018 I came back to Wellington for the second PHOTOBOOK NZ. Following on from the success of the 2016 event, which essentially featured Antipodean voices, the international contribution was expanded to include photography and photobook exponents from the USA, France, Germany and Japan.
In this second PBNZ the aims of event were certainly being met. Those being to:
build a national and international audience for New Zealand photobooks
strengthen connections and the exchange of information within New Zealand’s photographic community nationally and internationally
help New Zealand photographers produce innovative and excellent books that will attract international attention
help New Zealand photographers make national and international connections.
Once again over the two and a half days photobooks were discussed, many were bought and stories were shared about the state of the discipline in the Antipodes and how it is now a part of the international scene. What follows is the PBNZ 2018 program illustrated by photos and videos that I made during the event.
PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A REPORT ON THE PBNZ 2018 and not the 2020 event
Photobook/NZ Programme 2018
Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th March 2018 @ Massey University
Two-day Masterclass Workshops
Two-day international masterclass that will explore the processes of creating and
publishing photobooks. Designed for artists and photographers who have a photo based project in development. Twenty selected participants, ten in each group, will work one-on-one and collectively with international and New Zealand photographers and bookmakers.
6.45pm: Friday 9th March 2018
@ Te Marae, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington
Opening of Photobook/NZ 2018
Photobook/NZ Festival 2018 will be officially opened in the beautiful Te Marae, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa with the announcement of the winners of the NZ Photobook of the Year Awards and an opportunity to preview the publications available at Photobook/NZ Book Fair.
Announcement of NZ Photobook of the Year Awards
In its third year, the competition is open to entries from New Zealand photobook makers and publishers. The Awards celebrate excellence and innovation in photobook creation, and showcase the work of New Zealand photo artists to local and international audiences. Libby Jeffery, MomentoPro’s Marketing Manager introduced the Finalists who came up on to the stage – Jeffery then announced the Winner and Commended awards:
Carbon Empire by Allan McDonald and Rim Books was announced as the winner of the New Zealand Photobook of the Year Awards 2017
The commended finalists were: I Will Be My Dream self published by Constance McDonald; Mimetic by 2016 Award winner Mark Purdom, published by Ramp Press; and Nothing Ever Happens self published by Robyn Daly.
A detailed report on the awards can be found HERE
The New Zealand Photobook of the Year Awards are sponsored by Momento Pro.
An additional New Zealand Festival event took place on Friday –
BLACK & BRAUNIAS TALK SHOP
Saturday 10th March 2018
At Te Marae, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington
PHOTOBOOK FAIR
10:00am – 5:00pm
See this year’s (2018) stunning photobook line-up, meet the photographers and publishers who produced them, and purchase books for your collection.
Rolling book launches will be happening throughout the day. The New Zealand and Australian Photobook of the Year Awards 2017 finalists will also be exhibited and guests are invited to vote for the People’s Choice Awards.
Meeting photobook people, seeing books and attending book launches.
PUBLIC LECTURES AND TALKS
Midday – 1:00pm
Bryan Schutmaat (USA) – Artist Talk
Award-winning Texas-based photographer Bryan Schutmaat talks in depth about his practice and publishing including Grays the Mountain Sends and other works.
Bryan Schutmaat ’s travel and accommodation are generously sponsored by the Embassy of the United States of America, Wellington.
2:30pm – 3:00pm
Carole Bénitah (France) – Artist Talk: Photos – Souvenirs
Carole Bénitah will discuss the creation of her book Photos-Souvenirs, a project that she created between 2009 and 2014 re-working images from her personal family archives. After the talk, Carolle will sign copies of the special edition that contains a suite of embroidered images. Carole Bénitah’s travel and accommodation was supported by the New Zealand/France Friendship Fund.
4:30pm – 5:30pm
Athol McCredie (NZ) – Curator Photography at Te Papa – Public Talk:
Rediscovering New Zealand’s Photobooks
The photobook seems a recent phenomenon, but haven’t they been around much longer? Athol McCredie, curator of photography at Te Papa, explores this question by looking at some New Zealand photography books from the 19th century to the present.
6:30pm – 7:30pm
Massey University 2018 Peter Turner Memorial Lecture: Jem Southam (UK)
The Massey University Peter Turner Memorial Lecture 2018 will be delivered by Jem Southam, one of the UK’s leading photographers, renowned for his slowly accrued photographic narratives of landscapes transformed by time and human presence
Landscape Stories: Encounters, voices and Pictures – Jem Southam will address the complexity of the landscape genre in the light of his own career as a photographer, whose work results from the patient observation of singular sites over long periods of time. The slow accrual images, presented in structured narratives, reveals the complexity of our personal, political, literary, psychological and cultural associations with the places we inhabit.
Sunday 11th March 2018
College of Creative Arts, Massey University, Te Ara Hihiko,
Photobook/NZ Talks and Panel Discussions
This will be a day of talks, panel discussions and lively debates with our international and local keynote speakers.
9:30am
Introduction and Welcome
10am – 11am
1st Session: Katrin Koenning – Artist Talk
Presenting a selection of her long-form photographic works, Melbourne-based Katrin Koenning shares insights into her creative processes and methodologies. Much of her practice is concerned with the physical and emotional connection to place, and to that which surrounds us. Koenning will speak about notions of seeing as an act of placing oneself and of drawing closer.
Katrin’s travel and accommodation was generously supported in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut.
11.20am – 12.30pm
2nd Session: Is anybody out there? How we connect readers and photobooks:
a discussion of markets/readership
Chair: Becky Nunes
Panel Members
- Haru Sameshima – RIM books, New Zealand photography and art publishers
- Dan Rule & Justine Ellis and Baby Sadie – Perimeter Books, Australian publisher and bookstore operator
- Harry Culy – Bad News Books, New Zealand indie photobook
1:30pm – 2:30pm
3rd Session: Yumi Goto – Reminders Photography Stronghold
photobook as an object / the photobook that cares
Yumi Goto will show and Talk about the work of the Tokyo based Reminders Project Stronghold. The talk will conclude with a visit to the live photobook making exhibition created in association with the RPS for Massey’s University’s Engine Room Gallery.
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PHOTOBOOK AS OBJECT / PHOTOBOOK WHO CARES
An exhibition in the form of a live performance revealing the book making process, from concept to material experience of the photobook as an object – created in the School of Art Engine Room Gallery by Michiko Hayashi, Ryo Kusumoto and Tammy Law in association with Yumi Goto and the Reminders Photography Stronghold, Tokyo.
2.50pm – 3.50pm
4th Session: Debate time!
What will the future of publishing look like?
Join us for a lively and spirited debate on the topic:
Instagram is the future of photographic publishing
Chair: Mary Macpherson
Affirmative team: Peter Black (leader), Edith Amituanai, Chris Leskovsek
Negative team: Howard Grieve (leader), Christine McFetridge – Read, Libby Jeffrey
3.50pm – 4:00pm
AND THEN WITH CLOSING REMARKS – IT WAS ALL OVER… Until 2020!
VALE: Ian Poole
Very early on Monday morning my friend Simon Woolf, who I had been staying with, came in to let me know that a shared long-term friend in photography – Ian Poole had passed away over night. That morning I spent some time opposite an empty chair in a coffee shop in Cuba Street reflecting on Ian, his life as a professional and art photographer, curator and commentator and the contribution he made to cross-Tasman and Japan/Australian photography.
Unless otherwise indicated all photographs and videos are © Doug Spowart.
Photobooks in Australia + New Zealand 