Salient review

Whaingaroa by Jodi Ruth Keet

Showing from February 16 to March 12
Photospace is one gallery that doesn’t get the publicity that it deserves. With regular exhibitions that roll around every three weeks it consistently features photographs that deliver high emotional impact.
Jodi Ruth Keet from Raglan has her third Photospace exhibition in as many years with Whaingaroa, a black and white project about the area she grew up in. Intensely personal, her photographs are gritty and raw, with beauty and innocence jumping out from the frames.
The unique culture of small town Aotearoa has inspired Keet to explore the people and symbols of our culture and the land that defines us. Keet has tried to capture any changes to the surrounding landscape that communicate symbols of the old and new.
Her subjects are the local people of the Whaingaroa area in natural situations, such as swimming or just standing outside of their homes. This is a common theme for a lot of photographic journalism and exhibitions, but it becomes evident that Keet has avoided common cliches because the subjects look so natural, relaxed and in-touch with their surroundings. As soon as you view the images you immediately grasp the emotion of the situation. You are led at first to wonder how poor they are, as they appear to be dressed rather roughly. Without trying to sound too pretentious, the exhibition reminded me of photos of American Indians, another group with strong spiritual connections to the land. ‘Flying Boy’, an action shot of a boy diving into the sea, and the mysterious ‘Skeleton Tree in the Mist’ are photographs that communicate a real sense of kiwi identity. After absorbing the works you also get a good feel for the Whaingaroa area. This work is as much a study of quintessential New Zealand as it is a study of the land and people of a specific area.
As Keet herself explains, “while change is inevitable, looking at who we are today and where we have come from is an important part of understanding our culture. My project reflects this, and is a conceptual and personal artistic exploration of a town that is slowly changing along with the rest of our country. This work glimpses symbols of both the old and the new, and it reflects our relation, our interaction and our similarity to our surroundings.”
Photo exhibits can often be really pretentious. Alternatively, because Keet chose her home area and it’s residents as the focus of this work, she has produced a powerful and personal exhibit.
This exhibition will be the first in the reconfigured gallery. Photospace owner James Gilberd will be presenting more tightly-focused bodies of photographic artwork in two smaller rooms. This and future selections will represent a more personal approach to curation, a decisive move away from the gallery functioning as a public space, as has been it’s direction over the past eight years.
For further information contact Photospace gallery:
1st floor, 37 Courtenay Place, Wellington
Hours: 10am-4.30pm Mon-Fri, 11am-3pm Saturdays
www.photospace.co.nz

whaingaroa in wellington

I havn't long been back from Wellington where I went for the opening of Whaingaroa at Photospace. Photospace has done a bit of a change around of gallery space, this being the first show to go up in the new rooms.... and if I do say so myself, it looks pretty good. It was curated by a team effort, with Andy Palmer adding his touch to the hang, much appreciated, thanks Andy!

The opening went well, and all seemed to be impressed at the new look photospace gallery rooms...

So this show is on until the 12th of March, so get in and have a look if you're not sure where photospace is, Courtenay place Wellington, above the Saraha cafe... and here's a sneak peak of the show

Oh, and the work is all hand printed by yours truly, and selinium / gold toned

the raglan

There’s nothing like a bit of phallic imagery every now and again I say... here's one I took of a memorial in Raglan. I had a friend come to stay a couple of weeks after I took it and without any prompting by me he took a photo of it too (admittedly he is doing some kind of thing on memorials). So anyway Andy, I'll show you mine if you show me yours!? Oh wait you’ve seen mine... oh well show me yours anyhow!

dreaming of mediocrity

I never cease to be amazed at what people choose to live in. Suburbia is what really does my head in... I mean, how do those people remember which house is theirs! And the amount of money people will pay to own one of those small souless buildings! Anyhow, this photo isn't quite that, but it is still worth a laugh.

I

About a week ago, I got my recent films back... Here is one of my favs from them. I am calling it simply ' I '

Oh and for those of you who don't know me, photoshop hasn't had it's way with this image...