The Devil’s Blind Spot: Recent Strategies in New Zealand Photography

The Devil’s Blind Spot: Recent Strategies in New Zealand Photography

Andrew Beck, Holly Best, Jordana Bragg, Conor Clarke, Chris Corson-Scott, Solomon Mortimer, Ane Tonga, Shaun Waugh, and Rainer Weston

Curated by Lara Strongman

Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
Cnr Worcester Boulevard and Montreal Street, PO Box 2626, Ōtautahi Christchurch

19 November 2016 – 12 March 2017

Reviewed by Andrew Paul Wood for EyeContact, 6 December 2016

Solomon Mortimer Donavon Pinkerton #1 2013. Pigment print. Courtesy of the artist and Anna Miles Gallery, Auckland

Christchurch Art Gallery has a long tradition of curating exhibitions by emerging and early-career artists. The Devil’s Blind Spot concentrates on recent photography by New Zealand artists born in the 1980s and 1990s, who have grown up in the digital realm. Today we’re immersed in a constant stream of digital images; with a smartphone in your pocket, taking a photograph and sharing it with friends and strangers across the world is only a click away. This exhibition asks how a younger generation of artists is responding to the new cultural conditions of photography.

Andrew Beck Red cutting through black 2016. Acrylic, enamel, silver gelatin prints, conservation glass in artist frames. Courtesy of Hamish McKay Gallery, Wellington

Conor Clarke Twin Peaks, Berlin 2014. C-print. Collection of the artist, Courtesy of Two Rooms, Auckland