F4 Artist Collective and Shaun Higgins, Curator Pictorial have collaborated in selecting historical portrait photographs of unknown provenance from the collection.These photographs will be displayed in the Archive Library of The Auckland War Memorial Museum, alongside photographs that have been augmented by F4. Focusing on the diverse physicality of the medium in its earlier periods (daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, opaltypes, tintypes), these two bodies of photographs, original and manipulated, will work in conversation with one another. Taking the muteness of The Unknown, exploring its contours, creating relationships with the faces of the past.
Curator Shaun Higgins and artists F4 (Marcus Williams and Susan Jowsey) will discuss the works on display in an informal floor talk at 1pm on Saturday 11 June in the Archive Library of The Auckland War Memorial Museum.
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F4 and Auckland War Memorial Museum Photo Archives: Photographer Unknown.
F4:
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A family re-enacts and documents an imagined past in order to investigate representation. Without clear boundaries to define their world the gulf that separates them from their personal histories, has created an incomprehension they struggle relentlessly to overcome, as if one sense has failed, and the other four cannot attune to the loss.
An actual family document imagined experience, constituting an ethnographic inventory, which forms the basis of a family history. The interweaving of documentary and fantasy within a photographic space raises questions about the mediated nature of the cultural construct; family.
These two photos are in focus and the other one is out of focus. I've put the blurry photo in the trash. This two photos have been taken from a straight on angle.
The green tree and the side walk are paired to create a story about my walk at Mount Eden. One has been taken of the tree in Otara and one has been taken of the puddle in Mount Eden. The Otara photo has been taken from a straight on angle because I've had my camera straight. It has been taken with a shallow depth of field because the fore ground is sharp and the back ground is blurry. The Mount Eden photo has been taken from a high angle because I've looked down. It has got good reflection.
I've paired these photos because they are different. I've taken a photo of the dinner plate with dinner on the table which is in the dining room. The dinner is hot colours which are red, yellow and orange. I've taken a photo of reflection through this campus building in Otara. I really like the shape.
I've paired these photos because they are different. I've taken a photo of the outdoor fish pond at the winter garden. I can see trees through the fish pond. I like all the colours. This fish pond photo is abstract. I've taken a photo of the campus building with more reflection with green trees through it. Opposites with reflection. The left photo is reflection in the water and the right photo is reflection on the glass windows.
I've paired these photo because they are different. I've taken a photo of the stairs with leading lines and repetition far away from the museum. These stairs have some rain on them because the weather has been very rainy. I've taken a photo of these curtains and a brand new house outside the window which has been build a lot of weeks ago. The stairs remind me of the roof.
Auckland Museum Response
The Unknown.
When I look in to the frame of anonymous image, you gaze into the unknowable past. A bittersweet sense of loss becomes inextricably associated with the printed objects in front of you.
I like that it was so old and different.
Unknown glass plate negatives
Starting with the collodion wet plate and moving into the gelatine dry plate, negatives on glass could render more detail than most film variants due to their larger size.
These are prints which people use to make to hand to friends and family when they visited. They were very similar to business cards.
Unknown cyanotype
Characterised by their unusual colouring, these Prussian-blue prints are derived from a solution of iron salts that allowed the cyan colour to emerge when exposed to light through a contact negative.
I like the light and colour which is very unusual and the paper had folds in it because he used to carry it around in his pocket.
My Photographic Response:
I'm going to pair otherwise unrelated images together to make a new idea. One of them will be a new photo and one could be an old photo that I've taken.
I've paired these photos because they are different. One is new and one is old. One has been taken during the day and one has been taking during the night. In the night time photo there are cars moving because there is movement. In the day time photo I can see leading lines on the museum. The night photo seems like a drawing created by the movement of the vehicle lights. The museum building looks cold. Contrast between the light and dark.
I've paired these photos because they are different. One is new and one is old. One has been taken outside the deck at my house and one has been taken of the pond outside the museum. The plate on the deck has got lots of colour. The pond at the museum has got lots of reflection. Both of my photos have got raindrops and movement.
I'm going to pair otherwise unrelated images together to make a new idea. One of them will be a new photo and one could be an old photo that I've taken.
I've paired these photos because they are different. One is new and one is old. One has been taken during the day and one has been taking during the night. In the night time photo there are cars moving because there is movement. In the day time photo I can see leading lines on the museum. The night photo seems like a drawing created by the movement of the vehicle lights. The museum building looks cold. Contrast between the light and dark.
I've paired these photos because they are different. One is new and one is old. One has been taken outside the deck at my house and one has been taken of the pond outside the museum. The plate on the deck has got lots of colour. The pond at the museum has got lots of reflection. Both of my photos have got raindrops and movement.
The green tree and the side walk are paired to create a story about my walk at Mount Eden. One has been taken of the tree in Otara and one has been taken of the puddle in Mount Eden. The Otara photo has been taken from a straight on angle because I've had my camera straight. It has been taken with a shallow depth of field because the fore ground is sharp and the back ground is blurry. The Mount Eden photo has been taken from a high angle because I've looked down. It has got good reflection.
I've paired these photos because they are different. I've taken a photo of the dinner plate with dinner on the table which is in the dining room. The dinner is hot colours which are red, yellow and orange. I've taken a photo of reflection through this campus building in Otara. I really like the shape.
I've paired these photos because they are different. I've taken a photo of the outdoor fish pond at the winter garden. I can see trees through the fish pond. I like all the colours. This fish pond photo is abstract. I've taken a photo of the campus building with more reflection with green trees through it. Opposites with reflection. The left photo is reflection in the water and the right photo is reflection on the glass windows.
I've paired these photo because they are different. I've taken a photo of the stairs with leading lines and repetition far away from the museum. These stairs have some rain on them because the weather has been very rainy. I've taken a photo of these curtains and a brand new house outside the window which has been build a lot of weeks ago. The stairs remind me of the roof.
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