Muttonbirds—part of a story

4 November - 4 December 2005 in the Hirschfeld Gallery

Bruce Connew with Dean Tiemi Te Au

In 2004 Wellington-based photographer Bruce Connew undertook a photo-essay project documenting the hunting of muttonbirds on remote islands at the bottom of New Zealand. In this photographic project—and the ensuing exhibition and publication—Connew worked alongside Rakiura Māori beneficial owner Dean Tiemi Te Au. Te Au facilitated Connew’s access to the muttonbirding sites and shares his history and experiences of muttonbirding in their joint publication.  

Bruce Connew’s photo-essay 'Muttonbirds—part of a story' has already been acknowledged as a classic of the genre. His black and white images evoke remote islands at the bottom of New Zealand, the Māori communities that continue to harvest muttonbirds there, and the birds themselves. Not only is the series a meditation on food-gathering customs and the natural world, it is also a stridently political work, touching upon ancestral rights and competing claims. Connew captures the harshness of the environment as well as the persistence of the muttonbirders in gritty, often haunting images. This impressive body of work will be shown in Wellington for the first time in this exhibition at the Michael Hirschfeld Gallery.

Bruce Connew was born in Auckland in 1949. He studied photography at the West Surrey College of Art and Design in Guildford, England. Since 1976, he has travelled widely, undertaking documentary photography projects around the world. Connew’s work is characterised by a driving interest in social issues, particularly conflict, dissent, emancipation and struggle. Connew currently lives and works in Wellington.