Exhibition Opening
Wednesday 5 August, 5-7pmemilmcavoy.com
Celebrate the opening of The National Basement by Emil McAvoy on Wednesday, 5 August from 5-7pm at Old Government House.
The National Basement is a curated selection of unique photographs drawn from Archives New Zealand’s National Publicity Studios collection which were never intended to be made public. The images are internal documentation of promotional displays produced by the National Publicity Studios which contain official government commissioned photography, painting, illustration, typography and design. These displays present an idealised picture of the nation deployed in the promotion of tourism, trade and positive public relations. The displays have since been lost or destroyed, and these unusual and previously unpublished photographs remain the only trace of their existence. Echoing this situation, once ubiquitous NPS images are now largely invisible. Further, with remarkably little information remaining on the NPS, and the public lives of the images it produced, one might also see these archives as ‘found photographs’ which pose more questions than they answer.
Celebrate the opening of The National Basement by Emil McAvoy on Wednesday, 5 August from 5-7pm at Old Government House.
The National Basement is a curated selection of unique photographs drawn from Archives New Zealand’s National Publicity Studios collection which were never intended to be made public. The images are internal documentation of promotional displays produced by the National Publicity Studios which contain official government commissioned photography, painting, illustration, typography and design. These displays present an idealised picture of the nation deployed in the promotion of tourism, trade and positive public relations. The displays have since been lost or destroyed, and these unusual and previously unpublished photographs remain the only trace of their existence. Echoing this situation, once ubiquitous NPS images are now largely invisible. Further, with remarkably little information remaining on the NPS, and the public lives of the images it produced, one might also see these archives as ‘found photographs’ which pose more questions than they answer.