Auckland Festival of Photography, 2008

Auckland Festival of Photography, 30 May - 22 June 2008. Three images from the I Saw You series are included in a group exhibition at Satellite Gallery, Newton, along with three separate images from the same series in the PhotoForum group show, Bath Street Gallery, Parnell. The short film of the same work (see You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwuBPM_uUlo), produced by Catherine Griffiths with music by Alfredo Ibarra, will screen for one night at the Manukau Light Night, 7.00pm, Manukau Square, Manukau City.

Zhongshan, China

Bruce Connew is in Zhongshan, China, for three weeks, until the end of May 2008, collecting material for his next project.

On the way to an ambush

On the way to an ambush is now a 40-image exhibition, May 1 - July 31, 2008, at War Photo Ltd, Dubrovnik, Croatia (www.warphotoltd.com). Published in 1999 by Victoria University Press, New Zealand, the book has long been thought out-of-print. However, in a rare twist of fate, 150 copies of the book have recently been discovered tucked away in a distributor’s warehouse. As a limited edition end to the print run, 100 copies have now been numbered and signed, and are offered for sale as a multi-media package. Each book will be accompanied by a signed pigment print on archival Hahnemuhle cotton rag paper, and a DVD of a contemporary recording of a performance/presentation, first given in 1998, of the book’s visual material with a scripted voice over. Available at War Photo Ltd and Mary Newton Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand (www.marynewtongallery.com).

EDIT 45

Twelve images from the surveillance series I Saw You are a wraparound cover on the latest issue of German literary journal EDIT 45 (http://www.editonline.de). Stopover, the Indian-Fijian migration series, is represented inside the journal by ten images, with an essay, Unguarded Moments, about the connections between the two social documentary series, by Michael Fitzgerald, managing editor of Art and Australia magazine. . . . see NEW WORK

STOPOVER, a story of Indian-Fijian migration

Stopover wins a silver medal at the New Zealand Best Design Awards 2007, 5 October 2007 - a silver only?!! What were the judges thinking?

A spread of Stopover photographs appeared in TIME magazine, 24 September 2007, with a well-turned and pointed story by Elizabeth Keenan.

Stopover ... “Connew’s work combines haunting images with a text that is poetic, elegant, and moving in its clarity. There is a power and persuasion to his work that even the most scholarly and responsible analyses cannot match.” Professor David Hanlon, Director, Centre forPacific Islands Studies, University of Hawai’i, July 13, 2007.

The exhibition opened at PATAKA, Porirua, Wellington, New Zealand on August 26, 2007. Victoria University Press, Wellington and University of Hawai’i Press, Honolulu published the book in July 2007.

The book was launched with grace and sustenance amongst the cane cutters and their families, and in the shade of a giant mango tree, by Bruce Connew, Catherine Griffiths, Brij Lal, Padma Lal, Jogindhar Singh Kanwal and Amarjit Kaur in Vatiyaka, Fiji, 2pm, Saturday, August 25, 2007 . . . see NEW WORK

Mary Newton Gallery

Mary Newton Gallery’s Christmas drinks for their artists and a few friends, Friday evening, December 14, was at the “so grown up” Confidential Bar in Wellington where hang a selection of eight images from the I Saw You series.

I Saw You, the new 52-image surveillance series, showed at boutique Mary Newton Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand, until August 11, 2007. The exhibition was accompanied by an artist’s book and short film.

The film, which is available through Mary Newton Gallery for purchase, can be seen on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwuBPM_uUlo . . . see NEW WORK