Mr Edward J Reade (Teddy)
Christopher Matthews, Artist
This is one of the
photographs
in our collection.
It was made in
Napier, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand
in circa 1984.
About the Work
From
the
citizens
of
Napier
series,
Teddy
Reade
was
the
neighbour
of
the
artist.
This
wa
a
documentary
project
undertaken
by
the
artist
in
the
1980's
"reflecting
the
make
up
of
ones
community,
which
in
this
case
meant
a
particular
generation,
or
strata,of
that
community"1
Of this series Peter F Ireland says"The grid of the past is embedded in this depicted present as forcefully and effectively as the imposition of Dormett's town plan.Notwithstanding a perceptible historical exhaustion, the documentary tradition of photogrpahy remains capable of revealing more than it imposes. To its credit - and this of course makes the tradition viable - there has been a tendency to shun recieved notions that reinforce established social heirarchies. This project does not reflect the conventional social pyramid of the town, but rather removes core samples from a bore diagonally through it. Nor does the project pay homage to the cultivated image of Norfolk pines on Marine Parage, the dolphins at Marineland, or Pania on the rief. Formally, the project appears to be unremarkably in the tradition's mainstream, and conceptually it appears to have had its origins there also. But only apparently, for it makes few clains, either programmatically or morally. The photogrpaher's only consistent determination was to follow a hunch, sometimes reluctantly, but invariable demonstrating an instinct for locating his subjects with cncarnational accuracy within their environments, and often with such success that the environments become subjects themselves.
People who had lived all their lives in Napier were axial to the photographers hunch, people whose history natually qualified them for the title of citizen. There is no legal distinction between a citizen and a resident, but it is the difference between residing and belonging..."
1. Christopher Matthews in an interview with Peter F Ireland on 10 June 1989 as documented in the catalogue "Citizens of Napier - A photographic project by Christopher Matthews" 1989.Pub. by the National Library of New Zealand.pg 7.pg 9.
2.Peter F Ireland "Citizens of Napier - A photographic project by Christopher Matthews" 1989. Pub. by the National Library of New Zealand.pg 7.
Of this series Peter F Ireland says"The grid of the past is embedded in this depicted present as forcefully and effectively as the imposition of Dormett's town plan.Notwithstanding a perceptible historical exhaustion, the documentary tradition of photogrpahy remains capable of revealing more than it imposes. To its credit - and this of course makes the tradition viable - there has been a tendency to shun recieved notions that reinforce established social heirarchies. This project does not reflect the conventional social pyramid of the town, but rather removes core samples from a bore diagonally through it. Nor does the project pay homage to the cultivated image of Norfolk pines on Marine Parage, the dolphins at Marineland, or Pania on the rief. Formally, the project appears to be unremarkably in the tradition's mainstream, and conceptually it appears to have had its origins there also. But only apparently, for it makes few clains, either programmatically or morally. The photogrpaher's only consistent determination was to follow a hunch, sometimes reluctantly, but invariable demonstrating an instinct for locating his subjects with cncarnational accuracy within their environments, and often with such success that the environments become subjects themselves.
People who had lived all their lives in Napier were axial to the photographers hunch, people whose history natually qualified them for the title of citizen. There is no legal distinction between a citizen and a resident, but it is the difference between residing and belonging..."
1. Christopher Matthews in an interview with Peter F Ireland on 10 June 1989 as documented in the catalogue "Citizens of Napier - A photographic project by Christopher Matthews" 1989.Pub. by the National Library of New Zealand.pg 7.pg 9.
2.Peter F Ireland "Citizens of Napier - A photographic project by Christopher Matthews" 1989. Pub. by the National Library of New Zealand.pg 7.
Measurements
Image 245 mm x 245mm (x2)
Frame dimensions 525 x 838 mm
Frame dimensions 525 x 838 mm
Media
selenium toned silver gelatin prints
Description
Pair of black and white photographs mounted side by side in the frame. The left image shows an older man wearing a tweed jacket standing in front of a house front door with a bicycle leaning against it. The right hand image shows the man on a scooter on the house front porch, with a stack of empty glass bottles below the porch window.
Credit Line
Collection of the Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui. Gift of Mark Strange, 2010.
Collection Type
Permanent collection
Acquisition Date
20 Jul 2010