John B. Turner
Unwanted Treasures?
11 December - 30 January
John B. Turner’s exhibition Unwanted Treasures? offers an intimate look at his personal photographic works, showcasing decades of artistry and dedication to capturing the nuances of New Zealand's landscapes, people, and stories. While the exhibition celebrates Turner’s artistic legacy, it also brings attention to a critical issue: the uncertain future of New Zealand's photographic heritage.
As Turner has highlighted in his Photoforum ‘NEW ZEALAND’S PHOTO TREASURES HEADING FOR THE TIP?’ series, many valuable collections face threats from limited institutional resources, inadequate preservation efforts, and the challenges of private archive management. This exhibition not only honors Turner’s contributions but also serves as a poignant reminder of the need for sustainable strategies and collaborative efforts to ensure that New Zealand’s visual history from unofficial sources is preserved for future generations.
“There is a serious crisis over the non-collection of significant analogue photographs by national and regional heritage archives of pre-digital documentation between the 1950s and the 1990s due to lack of foresight, funding, facilities and staffing.”
- John B. Turner
Installation View: John B. Turner, Artor Contemporary 2024John B Turner is an editor, publisher, writer and educator in the field of photography, as well as a photographer in his own right. He was highly influential on the development of contemporary New Zealand photography from the late 1960s through to the 1980s.
Over these years Turner developed his personal photography, although promoting his own work came increasingly at the expense of his efforts in championing and encouraging the work of others. He wrote about photography, for example, in the magazines New Zealand Camera from 1962 and New Zealand Studio from 1967. At the Dominion Museum he came to appreciate the depth and value of New Zealand’s photographic heritage and unofficially curated three historical photography exhibitions for other institutions, most notably Nineteenth Century New Zealand Photographs for the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in 1970 that was toured to 12 other venues and accompanied by a modest publication. Turner also built up a library of books second to none in New Zealand. He became one of the best informed people in the country on photography, and he freely shared his books and his knowledge on overseas practice with other photographers.
Turner’s own photography has generally been taken in a documentary mode, whether as a grabbed moment in the tradition of photojournalism and other forms of candid photography or as more deliberately posed and set up images – often made with a large-format camera – in the tradition of Paul Strand and Walker Evans. Both types of photographs are informed by Turner’s awareness of the value of photography as an historical record; as well as by his belief that the truest images arise from the personal response: ‘We should be photographing things that are important to us, not just any old crap to show off.’
Turner was appointed lecturer in photography at the University of Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts in 1971. In 1973 he helped form PhotoForum, a voluntary organisation for the promotion of photography, and took on the longstanding role of editor or co-editor of its magazine of the same name. In 1973 he also curated Three New Zealand Photographers: Gary Baigent, Richard Collins, John Fields at the Auckland Art Gallery. The exhibition was toured to five venues and was accompanied by a widely seen catalogue. He was also behind The Active Eye, a seminal survey of contemporary New Zealand photography of 1975 that was even more broadly seen as an exhibition and catalogue. With his energy and passion, and the platforms of Elam and PhotoForum in particular, he exerted enormous influence on the early development of contemporary photography in this country, and was often referred to as New Zealand’s ‘photo-guru’.
Kawakawa railway staion c.1974, John B. TurnerW280mm x H187mm, Framed
Jean, Jim and Nell, Wedding guests, W280mm x 187mm, Framed
Installation view: John B. Turner, Artor Contemporary 2024
Te Atatu Me series book, John B. TurnerArtor Contemporary 2024