From photography’s 19th-century beginnings right through to the present ‘selfie generation,’ almost everyone who has ever used a camera has at some stage felt the urge to turn the lens on themselves. For centuries, painters made self-portraits as they contemplated and tried to depict their inner state of being, but from the outset photographers went beyond this traditional approach. Self-portraiture is a rich strand of photographic practice that is used to mirror not only the intensely personal life of the photographer but the wider issues of the world around them. 

'I, Camera' includes photographic self-portraits by these artists:
Alice Ng, Andrea Borin, Andrew Ross, Autumn Israelsson, Barbara de la Peña, Brenda Liddiard, Céline Saye, Ceri-Anne Holliday, Cindy Robins, Ellie Tucker, Gabrielle McKone, Gebhard Krewitt, Gilli Bird, Hayley Kilgour, Iolo Adams, Jackson Hood, James Gilberd, Jim Simmons, Joanna Sunga, John Pennington, John Williams, Kate Rampling, Kelvin McDonald, Mark Beehre, Mark Coote, Mary Hutchinson, Mary Macpherson, Matt Grace, Maya Harding, Naomi James, Nick Servian, Pavee Ruk, Penny Scarborough, Reg Feuz. Saane Asi, Saurara Mozel, Stephen Trinder, Warisara Thomson, Zach Hitchcock.

'I, Camera' is showing at Photospace Gallery, 1st floor, 37 Courtenay Place, Wellington, opens at 4pm on Friday, 10th December (you will need to show your Vaccine Pass to attend the opening) and runs till Saturday, 29th January, 2022.

The regular gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 10am-3pm, Saturday 11am-2pm, closed on Sundays and public holidays. Gallery access is via a gentle, straight flight of stairs, up one floor. Sorry, there is no lift available. Holiday period: the gallery will be closed from the noon on 23rd Dec. to 9th Jan., inclusive.
Viewing by appointment is possible over the break: please contact James Gilberd at j.gilberd@xtra.co.nz

'I, Camera' - 10 December 2021 - 29 January 2022 - Photospace Gallery, 37 Courtenay Place, Wellington, Aotearoa NZ

Curator's statement:

In today’s world, photographers and photographic artists turn self-portraiture to a huge variety of uses. It remains a powerful tool for the exploration and documentation of the self and for posing questions about the nature of ‘truth’ and ‘fiction’. For some, it becomes a political vehicle for investigating issues of race, gender, sexuality, and national identity, where the artist’s body may represent a metaphor for a broader, abstract concept. For others, autobiographical and diaristic work may take on a cathartic or therapeutic function. Performance and masquerade can be used in provocative and challenging ways to explore themes of masculinity, femininity, colonialism, power, history and cultural identity. 
 
I, Camera intentionally features the work of a wide range of artists, from high-school students through to mature practitioners. Some have studied photography at tertiary level while others are self-taught in their knowledge both of technical skills and art-historical precedents. Some make their living as photographers, some are artists working across a range of disciplines, and for some photography is a passion that enriches their lives outside their day-to-day work.

The themes explored in these works reflect the diversity of the artists. Questions of identity, sexuality, gender, and the potential multiplicity of the self are played out alongside ideas of self-exploration and self-transformation, fantasy and the unconscious, grief and loss, time and aging. A Surrealist thread runs across many of the works. Some images are humorous or spontaneous, serendipitously capturing moments in the stream of life experience; others carefully planned. Deeply conceptual work sits alongside images whose interest lies in their photographic technique. And in drawing the show together, it is exciting to see the ways in which these very disparate works speak to each other. 

— Mark Beehre

Installation Photographs