PHOTOGRAPHY AOTEAROA - to encourage, enrich and inspire photography in Aotearoa New Zealand
Hei āki, whakarākei, whakamanawa hoki i te mahi hopu whakaahua i Aotearoa

Demi Heath

Demi Heath is the Founder and Director of Photival, the Wellington photography festival. Demi studied photography for 7 years gaining a BA (Hons) in the UK and worked in the photographic publishing industry before moving to New Zealand. The festival, focusing on documentary photography, has attracted several thousand people in its 2 years of operation. Demi runs the festival alongside working at Te Papa where she has been since 2016. She hopes to expand and update the public photographic offerings in New Zealand over the coming years.

Mark Beehre

Mark Beehre is a medical practitioner and specialist physician at Wellington Hospital. Alongside his medical practice, he has a parallel career as a photographer and oral historian. In addition to his medical qualifications (MB, ChB, FRACP) he holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Auckland University’s Elam School of Fine Arts and is the author of Men Alone—Men Together, a major project incorporating photography and oral history in chronicling the lives and relationships of some 45 gay men. Mark’s work has been exhibited in New Zealand and overseas and he continues to work on a number of ongoing projects destined for publication and further exhibition.

John Williams is a photographer and photographic educator. Trained initially at Wellington Polytechnic and then at Massey University, he holds Bachelor of Design (Hons) and Master of Education (Adult Education) degrees. John’s work displays a strong commitment to the documentary tradition and has been exhibited regularly in Wellington and other centres over the past fifteen years. He is a longstanding contributor to the educational programme at Photospace and the Wellington High School Community Education Centre as well as having taught at a number of other tertiary institutions.

James Gilberd

James Gilberd is a professional photographer and the proprietor of Photospace Gallery, established in 1998 and one of the only art galleries in New Zealand specialising in photography. A graduate of Wellington Polytechnic and Victoria University, James remains committed to offering opportunities to new photographers to exhibit their work and establish their careers, as well as representing a number of more mature artists with well-established reputations. With darkrooms and a photographic studio available for hire, and a long-running programme of workshops and courses, Photospace Gallery has for more than a decade functioned as a de facto photography centre for Wellington and beyond.

Richard Toovey

Richard Toovey BA (Hons), FCA (ICAEW), ACA is a Chartered Accountant and tax advisor specialising in indirect and public-sector taxation. Richard commenced his career in the United Kingdom, initially in an audit role and later as a Tax Manager with Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) in London. In 1992, Richard transferred to New Zealand as a Senior Tax Manager with Coopers & Lybrand. He later joined Audit New Zealand, and became operationally in charge of tax at Audit New Zealand until November 2002, when he became a founding principal of TaxTeam Limited. In 2015 TaxTeam sold its business to PwC. Richard then consulted to PwC on taxation matters.  Richard is a member of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. Richard is also a member of the Institute of Directors. Since 2015 Richard has used his accounting and governance experience in the voluntary sector and is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees of St Mathew’s Collegiate School in Masterton and an Independent Trustee for Photography Aoteroa

Collectively the Trustees bring with them a broad range of training and experience, including gallery management, curation, photographic exhibition and publication knowledge and professional practice. Photography Aotearoa recognises the need to bring on board others with specific skills, notably in marketing, publicity, fundraising, media and design, and in the longer term to establish an expanded curatorial advisory panel.

Photography Aotearoa contact email: mail@photographyaotearoa.org.nz