TRUE NORTH
New Zealand photographer Tim White returned home in 2004 after living in London and Sydney for 14 years .The decade in London greatly influenced him with its abundance of galleries , photographic shows and book stores , introducing him to great American ‘documentary style’ photographers like Walker Evans , Robert Frank , Danny Lyon and Joel Sternfeld who have all become influential in his work.
New Zealand photographer Tim White returned home in 2004 after living in London and Sydney for 14 years .The decade in London greatly influenced him with its abundance of galleries , photographic shows and book stores , introducing him to great American ‘documentary style’ photographers like Walker Evans , Robert Frank , Danny Lyon and Joel Sternfeld who have all become influential in his work.
Funding personal projects by working as a fashion photographer White completed projects on Havana , America and a more abstract graffiti book project (in an edition of one) taking three years called “Signs of Life” White then decided to follow in his friend Derek Henderson’s example of ‘The Terrible Boredom of Paradise’ and actually publish a completed project.
Thus began what turned into a four year book and film project travelling to the Far North of New Zealand , driving North as often as commercial work commitments allowed , staying with a family he met early on in the project and trying to have the courage to leave the project to “grow organically” .
“I had never actually considered being able to self-publish any of the previous projects I had done , but after seeing Derek complete his book and having met (on line) Danny Lyon , who asked simply “why don’t you photograph Maoris?” I knew I wanted to do something very personal on my homeland” , White told The Bookman.
This new, spectacular, gem of a book , True North and accompanying DVD Whakarongomaikio (Listen towards ambience) are the result.
Here is part of Jamie Huckbody's Foreword:
(Jamie Huckbody is Editor-in-Chief, Harper's Bazaar Australia)
What does True North mean? While we can find north with the aid of a compass, are we able to discover so easily that which is true? The camera, with its ability to document the moment, certainly doesn't help. They say that the camera never lies. Well, that’s a lie for a start. Photographer Richard Avedon once claimed, “All photographs are accurate, none of them is the truth.” I am inclined to agree with him. They are accurate in their capacity to capture, but whose truth do they represent?
“Photographs lie. Words lie. The media lies. But does it matter?" asks Tim White. "Truth and lies are relative to the observer and the observed.”
This was something very much in White’s mind when he travelled to the far north of New Zealand, camera in hand. “The original attraction of this project was that this area had a reputation as being the most ‘Maori’ place in New Zealand; a mysteriously spiritual place with a sense of dark ‘hopelessness’ about it. But after spending four years meeting and entering the lives of different people and families, this ‘truth’ turned out to be anything but. In fact, their way of life is full of light; the people full of love.”
What does True North mean? While we can find north with the aid of a compass, are we able to discover so easily that which is true? The camera, with its ability to document the moment, certainly doesn't help. They say that the camera never lies. Well, that’s a lie for a start. Photographer Richard Avedon once claimed, “All photographs are accurate, none of them is the truth.” I am inclined to agree with him. They are accurate in their capacity to capture, but whose truth do they represent?
“Photographs lie. Words lie. The media lies. But does it matter?" asks Tim White. "Truth and lies are relative to the observer and the observed.”
This was something very much in White’s mind when he travelled to the far north of New Zealand, camera in hand. “The original attraction of this project was that this area had a reputation as being the most ‘Maori’ place in New Zealand; a mysteriously spiritual place with a sense of dark ‘hopelessness’ about it. But after spending four years meeting and entering the lives of different people and families, this ‘truth’ turned out to be anything but. In fact, their way of life is full of light; the people full of love.”
True North is published by Tim White.
Edition limited to 925 copies, (RRP NZ$100 incl.gst); additionally there is a boxed edition of 75, ($625 incl gst), signed and numbered, containing a copy of the film Whakarongomaikio and an original A4 print.
True North ISBN 978-0-473-14521-7
Whakarongomaikio DVD ISBN 978-0-473-14522-4
Available at Parsons Bookshop, Auckland, some other bookshops or enquire from the publisher:
No comments:
Post a Comment