{"id":2904,"date":"2026-02-04T22:24:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T22:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/?p=2904"},"modified":"2026-02-04T22:24:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T22:24:59","slug":"a-different-light-first-photographs-of-aotearoa-closing-7-feb-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/a-different-light-first-photographs-of-aotearoa-closing-7-feb-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"A Different Light : First Photographs of Aotearoa – closing 7 Feb 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hocken Collections M\u0101ori Archivist Rauhina Kohuwai-Banks (RKB) sat down with Curator of Photography, Anna Petersen (AP), to k\u014drero about\u00a0A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa,<\/em> an exhibition showcasing the history of photography in Aotearoa, now in its last week at the Hocken Gallery.<\/p>\n

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Moeraki K\u0101ik, 1864-1865. Joseph Perry photograph, P1910-005\/1-020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

RKB\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 T\u0113n\u0101 koe Anna, thank you for sitting down to talk with me about A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa<\/em>, an exhibition which you co-curated alongside Shaun Higgins (from T\u0101maki Paenga Hira) and Natalie Marshall (from the Alexander Turnbull Library).<\/p>\n

You also contributed to an illustrated publication of the same name, edited by Catherine Hammond and Shaun Higgins.<\/p>\n

How did you get involved in co-curating the exhibition and what was the hope for this collaboration?<\/p>\n

AP\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well it fell naturally, because I\u2019m Curator of Photographs at the Hocken, and the show was curated by the photography curators at the three participating institutions.<\/p>\n

I think the hope, the initial hope for the collaboration \u2013 because it did evolve from a memorandum of understanding between the University of Otago and the Auckland Museum \u2013 kind of changed a bit.<\/p>\n

It was first envisaged that the exhibition would accompany a conference held by the Centre for Research on Colonial Culture, and a corresponding production of a book edited by University of Otago academics \u2013 but then the conference didn\u2019t eventuate. Although Angela Wanhalla was invited to write the introduction, in the end, the main body of the book was the work of library and museum staff.<\/p>\n

… It was determined that it would be a show of early New Zealand photography, and it both set out to demonstrate the evolution \u2013 the technological evolution of photography from 1850 to 1900 \u2013 at the same time, exploring how photography became embedded in the whole cultural, social, political, economic development of the colony.<\/p>\n

RKB\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s very wide-reaching, and the exhibition has toured Auckland, Wellington, and finally \u014ctepoti Dunedin, and each iteration of the exhibition has had its own distinct flavour \u2013 for example, you decided to showcase some original photographs held by the Hocken in the Dunedin iteration. What did you pick, and why?<\/p>\n

AP\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was partly the differences in the gallery spaces allocated for the show, and design decisions that gave that different \u2018flavour\u2019 in the two other venues. They didn\u2019t add any more early original photographs like we did, but because our space is larger \u2013 and I also actually wanted to highlight more the particular aesthetic of early photography, which I felt had been somewhat overridden by a museological insistence on a storyline.<\/p>\n

With the consent of the other two curators, I added a whole wall of early photographs of Dunedin for our local audience. Then I also augmented each of the five sections with some more photographs that just complemented what was already chosen. So I didn\u2019t feel that I actually changed the whole nature of the show, but it does have a bit more of a look that I would have liked it to have had all along (laughs)…<\/p>\n

RKB\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m sure locals from \u014ctepoti appreciate what you augmented the show with!<\/p>\n

Taking a bit of a turn… this week we will be commemorating 186 years since the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi by northern rangatira in 1840, and A Different Light<\/em> doesn\u2019t shy away from the fact that the development of photography coincided with the \u2018time of turbulent social change\u2019 that was the colonisation of Aotearoa New Zealand.<\/p>\n

I wonder if you would like to share any insights you\u2019ve had, in co-curating this exhibition, on the connections between photography and how mana whenua and early P\u0101keh\u0101 settlers viewed themselves and each other during this period?<\/p>\n

AP\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 From the start, we had three very large collections of photographs to draw on, but… we could only do our best with those. So, for example, we couldn\u2019t show the earliest known photograph in New Zealand. And by the same token, we knew, for example, that M\u0101ori increasingly were hanging photographs of their t\u012bpuna in wharenui, but we didn\u2019t have any original examples of interiors of wharenui that showed that, so that\u2019s a limitation.<\/p>\n

Examples of how early P\u0101keh\u0101 were relating to M\u0101ori … one area in the exhibition is showing how some early P\u0101keh\u0101 photographers took advantage of M\u0101ori sitters for commercial gain, and to satisfy the worldwide appetite for photographs of people of different ethnicities.<\/p>\n

And this was very often done without \u2013 well, we don\u2019t actually know, but we presume that the sitters probably didn\u2019t know quite what was going to be done with the photographs. But also that the photographers didn\u2019t note their names.<\/p>\n

Having said that, we do have also examples where the names were noted on the back, or in the albums. And these have proven to be incredibly precious, and continue to be so, for M\u0101ori now, to discover. The Eccles album, which is included in the show, has proven to be a particularly important example of that.<\/p>\n

And then we also have another aspect of M\u0101ori agency in the show, including two portraits of King T\u0101whiao, who embraced photography in order to promote his presence.<\/p>\n

There are also photographs of M\u0101ori who had been displaced in the Wellington region.<\/p>\n

So we have tried to bring some of those issues out.<\/p>\n

RKB\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Kia ora, thank you for sharing that… So, though the exhibition is closing this Saturday, the legacy lives on in the accompanying publication of the same name. Your chapter, \u2018The Give and Take of Photographs\u2019, takes a look at early photographs of Dunedin and Otago. Can you tell me more about early photographers and photographs in this area? Do you have any favourite examples?<\/p>\n

AP\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sure, well the development of Dunedin in the 1860s, 70s and 80s seem to have been particularly well documented by national standards, and even international standards. And that\u2019s partly because of the discovery of gold \u2013 so the money that was generated, and the influx of immigrants, attracted a lot of photographers to the city. And some of those photographers were very gifted and dedicated, like William Meluish and Joseph Perry, and some, like the famous Burton Brothers, were very adept at marketing their photographs.<\/p>\n

This period also coincided with the development of the wet-plate collodion method and albumen prints, which were a stable, inexpensive way of producing photographs. And photographs of Dunedin, as well as photographs that were taken around Otago \u2013 photographing the scenery, the resources, the development of infrastructure, for example, were used to promote the whole province \u2013 both in New Zealand and overseas.<\/p>\n

I was particularly interested in photographs by Joseph Perry, because they hadn\u2019t been really thoroughly researched. It was a great thrill to uncover new archival material about those \u2013 how they came about.<\/p>\n

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Bank of New South Wales, Cromwell, 1867. Photographer unknown, Box-216-001<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

AP \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of my favourites is that one of people outside the bank in Cromwell in 1867, which I just find incredibly beautiful \u2013 I think it\u2019s just really beautifully balanced. I said that to somebody and he said it was interesting I should feel that way about the photograph because really that photograph could have been taken anywhere in the world, it\u2019s not distinctively New Zealand.<\/p>\n

How about you, Rauhina \u2013 are there any that stay with you?<\/p>\n

RKB\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (laughs) … I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m prepared to have this question turned back on me!<\/p>\n

As I was walking around the exhibition there were so many moments of \u201cOh, I didn\u2019t know that!\u201d … there\u2019s so much I don\u2019t know about photography, so being walked through how this actually relates to us in Aotearoa, depicting both M\u0101ori and P\u0101keh\u0101, and others, and the visceral feeling of actually seeing places [I know]… like the picture of the k\u0101ik at Moeraki, … knowing that place myself, being able to step back in time, seeing it up on the wall, that was really special to me.<\/p>\n

AP\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, that\u2019s one of the ones we added to the exhibition, that whole wall.<\/p>\n

RKB\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The exhibition is truly an amazing achievement, and it\u2019s opened my eyes, as I was saying, to the history of photography in Aotearoa \u2013 a history that will surely continue to evolve. Are there any other whakaaro you\u2019d like to share?<\/p>\n

AP\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Just, I suppose I\u2019d like to say what a wonderful, exciting project it was to work on, and how much I\u2019ve learned in the process, but also, it really has enhanced collaboration between Hocken and the Auckland Museum and the Alexander Turnbull staff, which is wonderful. And it\u2019s been a great joy to read the visitor comments, and to see how much fun visitors had with the interactive \u2013 to create their own 19th Century style portrait.<\/p>\n

RKB\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 K\u0101 mihi nunui, Anna – thank you so much for sharing your expertise and insights with me \u2013 and everyone \u2013 today. And I encourage everyone to go to the exhibition this Saturday!<\/p>\n

Anna Petersen<\/strong> is Photographs Curator at the Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o H\u0101kena, and co-curator of A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rauhina Kohuwai-Banks<\/strong> (K\u0101i Tahu \u2013 K\u0101i Te Ruahikihiki, K\u0101ti M\u0101moe) is the M\u0101ori Archivist at the Hocken Collections Uare Taoka o H\u0101kena. Their work focuses on digitisation, description, access and advocacy.<\/p>\n

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Carved stern-post of M\u0101ori canoe, ornamented with feathers, c.1865. John Kinder photograph, P1922-001-067.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa\u00a0<\/em>will be open for its final day this Saturday 7 February 2026, closing at 5pm, at the Hocken Gallery, Level 1, 90 Anzac Avenue, Dunedin.<\/p>\n

The Hocken will be closed<\/strong> on Friday 6th<\/sup> February for Te R\u0101 o Waitangi \/ Waitangi Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hocken Collections M\u0101ori Archivist Rauhina Kohuwai-Banks (RKB) sat down with Curator of Photography, Anna Petersen (AP), to k\u014drero about\u00a0A Different Light: First Photographs of Aotearoa, an exhibition showcasing the history of photography in Aotearoa, now in its last week at the Hocken Gallery.   RKB\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 T\u0113n\u0101 koe Anna, thank you for sitting down to talk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43530,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15421,15348,8778,17482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exhibitions-and-events","category-historical-photographs","category-photography","category-treaty-of-waitangi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43530"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2904\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}