A new photography exhibition curated by School of Creative Industries lecturer, Allan McDonald and featuring work by students and alumni alongside established practitioners has opened at Toi o Wairaka Gallery in Building 108 (Te Pūtahi).
The opening night of Translating the Real on Thursday saw kaimahi and ākonga joined by industry guests as well as family and friends of the featured photographers.
Master of Creative Practice graduates Frankie Ayers, Karlene Groves and third-year Contemporary Art ākonga, Izzy O’Hagan, Anna Suante and Sam Waddell feature in a programme which includes Ziggy Bond, Caryline Boreham, Wendy Bornholdt, David Cowlard and renowned protest photographer, John Miller (Ngāpuhi) and Local Time Collective, who has documented protest movements in Aotearoa for over six decades.
Translating the Real explores how photography transforms reality into artifact. It delves into the interplay between archival materials, documentary practices, and subjective memory, highlighting the nuanced ways artists interpret and represent the world around them.
“Every photograph is a translation from the real. In this process the real becomes an artifact, one that’s been mediated by the choices of the photographer to a greater or lesser extent,” says McDonald.
“Artists working with archives and the photographic document have long recognised the tension between the subjective way memory is socially constructed while attempting to stay true to the world around them. This exhibition looks at artists working across the archive, the document and the subjective.”
The exhibition is open to the public and Unitec kaimahi are invited to see the work during normal gallery hours. Find out more about the Translating the Real exhibition.
Exhibition Dates: On until, 5 June 2025 (Monday to Friday 9:30am-4:30pm)
Toi o Wairaka Gallery, Building 108 (South Entrance 1), Mt Albert Campus, Unitec
More info: www.unitec.ac.nz/toiowairaka
https://www.unitec.ac.nz/toiowairaka/index.php/2025/05/10/translating-the-real/