Sally Mann is an American photographer best known for her Immediate Family series. Spanning 1984–94, Immediate Family captured her children as they grew up and explored the countryside surrounding their Virginia home. In later years she turned her focus towards the land itself, with a series that investigated the deep south and key locations in the American Civil War.

More recently What Remains (2000-04), has brought people and the land together in the frame, albeit in an unconventional way. Mann has photographed decomposing bodies at a Tennessee research facility. At first glance the works appear to be simple abstracted textures, but look closer and you’ll recognise traces of the human form. Death and decay, rendered palatable.

Mann’s beautiful images are given an extra ghostly quality from the dust and scratches that arise through the use of antique cameras and the wet-plate collodion process.

A photographic negative is made by coating a glass plate with collodion to form an emulsion. Then the plate is sensitised in a silver nitrate solution and exposed to light while still wet. This gives the photographer only about five minutes to make the exposure. All aspects of the preparation and developing process for the wet-plate collodion print are complicated, delicate and tactile.

Mann’s first solo UK exhibition -  The Family and the Land: Sally Mann -  is now showing at The Photographers’ Gallery in London. It’s on till 19 September 2010. Highly reccomended if you’re in the neighbourhood.

Near the top of the list entitled “Things I Love About Berlin” is the street art. Chalk, paste-ups, posters, stickers, paint, even knitted cozies adorn every wall, pavement and inch of accessible space.

It’s so inspiring; from both big names (Blu, Yoox, Ms Van) to angry men just scratching around painting the number ‘6′ on everything.

While I was familiar with Jenny Holzer truisms (on shirts and plaques etc), I had never seen her Projections series until this weekend. It really strikes a chord with me – poignant words cast out onto jagged urban landscapes.

Florence, Berlin, NYC. Places like these. So beautiful…

Katie Turner is an illustrator living in Brooklyn, New York. She draws loads of fun, brightly hued pictures of people telling ghost stories and cute boys.

There’s also a lot of great hand crafted type in her portfolio, viz:

This however, is my favourite piece:

YES. Right? How did she know that’s what floats my boat? (Although if we’re going to get a little more specific, I like 80’s horror movies.)

If these made you giggle, check out Katies’s website and her blog for more delightful illustrations.

All that glitters is not superficial. Last week with Laza, post ramen feast, I checked out Dear Beauty, Dear Beast; Reuben Paterson’s recent exhibition at Auckland’s Gow Langsford gallery.

The series began for Paterson as a reaction to New Zealand’s provocation debate.  In the way that previous bodies of work have honoured his whakapapa and found basis in the emotional responses to his genealogy, Paterson views these works, in part, as a personal homage to the victims of murder cases which have successfully used the provocation or “gay panic” defence. The work suggests that in the same way that we have an underlying culture of racism, there is also an underlying culture of homophobia.

The result is a series of strong images representing a weak outcome for victims and their families. In person the works are dazzling – and had a depth that in no way can be replicated through a photograph. Paterson commissioned custom glitter colours for each individual piece of work in the exhibition. In an interview with Radio New Zealand he said: “Although the imagery may be familiar, you’ll probably never see it again because these colours will never be manufactured again.”

Reuben Paterson
b.1973, Auckland (Ngati Rangitihi and Ngai Tuhoe)
Lives and works in Auckland

‘Box Of Birds’ is the name of Seed Gallery’s latest exhibition. They’re releasing a new range of greeting cards featuring prints by some of their favourite artists and to celebrate they’re dedicating the gallery to both the cards and the originals.

The gorgeous work below is by artists John Pusateri (I have some of his birdy etchings hanging in my home), Annie Sandano and Aroha Lewin.

The gallery show is on till March 28, 2010, but the cards will be available to snap up beyond that. I can’t wait to go buy some… one can never have too many beautiful blank cards.

My pick of the lot? Annie Sandano’s Wise Owl. Naturally.

Seed Gallery, 23A Crowhurst Street, Newmarket, Auckland.

Take 7000 revelers of all ages, set them loose over the pristine fields, beaches and bush of Tapapakanga Regional Park; then throw in numerous musical delights, stimulating art and provocative performances. Spread this mix over 3 days of nonstop glorious sunshine and what do you get? Splore 2010, that’s what.

Splore bills itself as a family friendly outdoor music and arts festival, and for the eighth time it went off swimmingly. The joy of the event is to be found in its diversity and sharing the time with your friends and family.

On arrival (there was no queuing because we carpooled like good little greenies) we had our vehicle thoroughly searched for liquor and other naughties, such as glass; and had a forgotten ticket promptly replaced by the friendly crew. Blue armbands for everyone over 18, yellow bands for any one underage, even babies who were just starting to toddle along.

We camped in the Grasslands Camp – a giant meadow bordered by cicada laden bush and eucalyptus trees. High winds saw us have a hell of a time set up a borrowed gazebo. We settled in and cooked dinner, another hangi, with only a few minor mishaps (getting drunk, a minor grass fire). My friend Bridge also bought homemade Oreo cookies which went down a treat!

Speaking of food, over the course of the weekend I heard some positively orgasmic reviews of the jerk chicken, run by the same lovely people that were at Rhythm and Vines. Being a garden variety vegetarian I missed out on that BBQ treat, but did end up trying a warm ‘festival’. Festivals are best described as a traditional Jamaican fried dumpling, made out of slightly sweet cornmeal. They’re usually used to mop up gravies, but I found mine pretty tasty simply washed down with some homemade lemonade. There was also the standard hippie fare you’d expect to find- it’s not a real music festival in New Zealand without the One Love caravan and their pakoras.

Friday was musically the biggest day for me. (It’s also the evening where you still haven’t had a bad sleep in a horrifically hot tent, with girls pretending to be horses trotting down the walkway at 4.30am). We ate, got dressed and headed down the goat track to the beach. The Goat Track is notable as it was a narrow and steep pathway suitable only for the nimble. It was not recommended for ‘late night cavorting’ and indeed, I saw one intoxicated young man take a serious tumble through the scrub.

International act Lupe Fiasco was skipped in favour of general wandering around the festival, enjoying the ambience. From what I did catch of his set, I ascertained the singles the crowd knew worked far more successfully than emotional ditties that he wrote ‘during a dark time in his life’. We headed to the Rum Shack for cold beer and energizing Train Wrecks… That’s Red Bull and Jagermeister folks.

After New Zealand band Miniut performed (with vocalist Ruth Carr’s giant blonde nest of hair dominating the stage), it was time for electronic luminaries Basement Jaxx to bring the party. They did so with panache and booty shaking, care of their 2 of their back up vocalists who elevated the Basement Jaxx time slot from a DJ set to a banging live performance.

They performed a wide ranging set – from classics like Bohemian Rhapsody, their own hits Rendezvous and Where’s Your Head At, to heaters like Major Lazer’s Pon De Floor. After holding hands with a complete stranger while chanting for an encore, and wearing out the rubber soles of my shoes from all the prancing, it was time to head up the hill and collapse.

A 6.00am sharp sunrise on Saturday morning saw us rise earlier than was humanely acceptable. Within two hours, the heat was scorching and we were all resigned to hiding out under the gazebo. After a lazy breakfast and the best thing money could buy for the time – a trim flat white – we headed down the hill for a swim.

Swimming in the fresh water lagoon is one of the highlights of Splore for me.  The water is icy enough to chill your body right through to your bones, so once we’d finished lounging in the lagoon, we jumped into the sea, which felt like bathwater. I have never felt so refreshed in my life!

Saturday night’s headline act was Los Angeles DJ The Gaslamp Killer. I admired Mr. Killer (real name William Benjamin Bensussen) for the energy he was putting into the performance; but in the end found him to be a show-pony more concerned with shaking his head of ringlets at the crowd than spitting good tunes out of the speakers. I left the boys to enjoy the ‘filth’ and headed over to the Living Lounge to see local band An Emerald City.

An Emerald City played wearing masks, surrounded by dancers wielding fire fans. They explored the space time continuum and soothed my by then weary soul with their mixture of east meets west gypsy psychedelia. They achieve this sound by mixing violin, Persian long-necked lute, sitar, flute; and traditional western instruments like guitar, piano, drums with panache.

The Living Lounge was a straw strewn space that hosted workshops during the day (think drumming, permaculture and hula hooping), but at night transformed into a den of frivolity. On Saturday evening the Living Lounge hosted the Midsummer Night’s Dream 2050 party. Fauns, robots, fairies, demons and assorted creatures of the night swarmed in to watch burlesque, rope acts, acrobatic feats and general Shakespearean mayhem.

The art trail is always a highlight of Splore and this year was no exception. Best seen at night, the trail featured delights such as a robot with a disco in its chest, neon poems, a walkable harp, a giant xylophone for hours of collaborative fun, and Ride-In – a mini cinema with the projector powered by viewers cycling on rollers.

My favourite installation, the Tree Of Life, overlooked the main stage. It’s a giant Pohutukawa with bright leis wrapped around every bough. At night, a black light illuminated the tree, giving the leis an acid coloured glow.

Sunday saw us relax, pack down the tents, have a swim and ponder how good the universe was to us. Simply – we came, we saw, we Splored.

Mark February 2012 down in your diary as an excellent time to be in the vicinity of the South Pacific -  then make your way to the Coromandel. It’s such an uplifting, horizon broadening, friendly event – I doubt you would ever regret making the time to go to Splore.

Nicolas Henry is a filmmaker, photographer and artist. Usually based in Paris/Marseilles, he is currently working on a major photographic series – Les Cabanes de nos Grands Parents. This has seen him traverse the world from Marrakech to Moscow, meeting and engaging with all sorts of grandparents.

Henry travels to the home of each of his subjects (he says a friendship is sealed when you visit a home) and invites them to make a hut or play-space with their personal belongings. Inspired by their childhoods, the resulting huts are intimate glimpses into their strikingly rich and diverse lives.

If you can read French (or use a translation tool) you should visit Henry’s site and read why each space is a a reflection of their imagination. I always appreciate it when older people have the chance to share their stories, their loves, their dreams.

Delightfully, Henry had the good fortune to meet and photograph my wonderful grandmother in New Zealand. As I understand it they met while she was volunteering at the local visitors centre of her seaside village.

Here she is in her much beloved but wild sub-tropical garden – click for a larger view.  The picture above Betty’s head is one of her crocheted woolen blankets and a portrait of her as a young girl. Note the teaspoon collection in the back! I love this photograph so much.

The number one reason for our Wellington visit (I use the word ‘our’ but in reality I was gatecrashing my friends’ holiday) was to go see the Yayoi Kusama: Mirrored Years exhibition at the City Gallery.

To celebrate the exhibition, they kitted the entire gallery exterior out in polka dots!

Yayoi Kusama is an avant-garde Japanese sculptor, painter and novelist.; her work concerns many themes, but is usually expressed through the polka dot and infinity net motifs that are her trademarks. Kusama started painting dots at a young age, after suffering ‘hallucinations’.

In her twenties, Kusama moved to New York and nurtured her talents further, gaining recognition for her large scale works, working in the same sphere as Warhol and other notables. In 1973 she returned to Japan and produced several novels and anthologies while continuing to create art.

Today, Kusama’s trippy paintings, tentacle like sculptures, performance art and installations have attracted a cult following around the world, and she has found acclaim as one of the world’s most important living artists.

The Mirrored Years exhibition is on in Wellington till February 10, so if you’re anywhere in the region and you haven’t scoped it out yet, you simply must! It’s simply dotty, mind boggling and a lot of fun to be immersed in.

I’ve had various drafts on the work of Roger Dean sitting in my to edit folder on my computer for years. He has been one of my favourite artists since my Dad first introduced me to his work as a kid. Not only is Dean a prolific fantasy style painter/illustrator, he is a champion of eco-architecture. This guy has imagination A+ when it comes to creating new worlds!

Here in an assortment of Dean works I really like, starting with his 1989 cover design for the Amiga game Shadow Of The Beast:

An illustrated logo for Virgin Records:

If you like any of these pieces, be sure to check out Dean’s 1975 book Views. It’s heavy, the size of an LP and a intriguing mix of design concepts and finished artwork. I treasure my copy and think it’s worth tracking one down for a look.

Finally, look at these Dean illustrations – his ‘Floating Islands’ and dragons:

If you’ve seen Avatar, these might look familiar. People the world over are speculating that James Cameron took more than a little inspiration from Roger Dean’s fantastic work. I for one enjoyed seeing them come to life!