On this weekend

If you’re keen to get out and see some fantastic photography this weekend there is plenty happening around the country:
Russ Flatt: Paper Planes – Auckland

Breaking from his distinguished fashion photography career, Russ Flatt exhibits two distinct personal fine art series of work, each exploring ideas of identity, memory and engagement with the past. The first is a series of detailed colour tableaux, the second black-and-white mug shot-like portraits. The free show is at the Pah Homestead until September 28.

Bev Short: All Woman – Auckland

Portrait photographer Bev Short travelled the country to create compelling, inspiring environmental portraits of empowered New Zealand women from all walks of life in this engaging series. The exhibition is showing free on Waiheke’s Community Art Gallery until the end of the month.

Ann Shelton: Two Words for Black – Auckland

Prolific Wellington-based art photographer, Ann Shelton, has a show combining a sample of her diverse older works alongside new series City of Gold and Lead, which she created while in residence at Tylee Cottage in Whanganui. The exhibition is free at the Trish Clark gallery until October 2.

Jane Ussher: Still Life – Auckland

In 2008 Jane Usher, one of New Zealands most respected editorial photographers, made a trip to Antarctica and created a series of images exploring the details of the huts used in Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton’s historic exhibitions. These images, with accompanying audiovisuals and objects from the Antractic display, make up the Auckland Museum‘s free Still Life experience, on until October 5.

Laurence Aberhart: Heavy Metal II – Whanganui

One of the country’s most important art photographers, Laurence Aberhart, exhibits fifteen of his richly detailed black-and-white images as platinum prints in a follow-up exhibition to the McNamara gallery‘s first heavy Metal show. The free show runs until October 4.

Wairarapa Camera Club: Hidden Faces, Hidden Gems – Masterton

The Wairarapa Camera Club’s biennial exhibition of club work continues in this new show, displaying the organisation’s recent emphasis on visual story-telling techniques. The free exhibition is hosted at the Aratoi Wairarapa Museum of Art and History until September 21.

Peter Peryer: A Careful Eye – Hutt City

One of the country’s most acclaimed artists returns to the gallery that helped start it all; over 50 photographers taken from Peter Peryer’s notable 40-year career are on show at the Dowse, the very same gallery in which his first solo show hung in 1977. A Careful Eye is free and runs until November 23.

World Press Photo 2014 – Wellington

The spellbinding, often shocking, collection of the year’s best photojournalism from around the globe is currently on display at Wellington’s New Zealand Portrait Gallery. Entry is $10 (kids under 16 are $5), and runs untill Sunday, September 21 – don’t miss this one.

Ans Westra: Rātana – Wellington

A series of black-and-white and colour images exploring the North Island town of Rātana pā from the 60s onward, Rātana is an exhibition by one of New Zealand’s most renowned social documentary photographers, Ans Westra. The free show is at Cuba Street’s Suite gallery until the end of the month.

Gretchen So: NY 10048 – The World Trade Centre in the early 1990s – Wellington

Commemorating the anniversary of New York’s Twin Towers attack, acclaimed Hong Kong photographer, Gretchen So, shows a series of black-and-white prints from the iconic US site taken in the early 90s. The free exhibition is on at Courtenay Place’s Photospace gallery until October 6.

Mark Adams: Tatau 1978-2005 – Christchurch

Mark Adams, one of New Zealand’s most notable photographers, created a body of work examining the challenging subject of colonial history in the context of Samoan Tatau tattoing, with a focus on the work of master Samoan tattooist Paulo Sulu’ape. The works are on show for free at the University of Canterbury until October 2.