John Vea
John Vea is a contemporary artist living in Tämaki Makaurau whose work examines themes around Moana Nui a Kiwa (Pacific) migration, labour, and employment. His work has been shown internationally. He intends to bring attention to the often monotonous and hard physical labour performed by communities, which makes a significant contribution, especially to the agricultural and construction sectors, but which goes mostly unnoticed. Vea uses talanoa, a word common among many Moana Nui a Kiwa culture, and refers to an informal, intimate meeting in which individuals exchange ideas, tales, and personal experiences. Talanoa prefers face-to-face contact above other modes of communication, such as phone calls, emails, or third-party exchanges, since it is more personal. Vea uses talanoa to transform people’s experiences into creative pieces that viewers may share with a broader audience via storytelling. ( https://dunedin.art.museum/exhibitions/past/john-vea/)
Eadweard Muybridge
Eadweard Muybridge is known for his photographic studies of human and animal motion, a pioneer in landscape photography. He was also a pioneer in the study of human and animal movements. His pioneering work on animal locomotion in 1877 and 1878 used multiple cameras to capture motion in stop-motion photographs. As well as his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that predated the flexible perforated film strip used in cinematography, made him a well-known figure in the history of photography. The advances in shutter technology, along with Muybridge’s sequential camera design, allowed Muybridge to demonstrate that a horse on trot does indeed have all four legs off the ground while it is running. Muybridge and Stanford subsequently had a falling out over credit for Muybridge’s work, but the photographer maintained his interest in studying movement throughout his life.
David Hilliard
David Hilliard has established himself as a contemporary photographer who is most recognised for his panoramic images. His photos, which are typically triptychs or more significant compositions, include themes that are brightly coloured. Hilliard’s photographs are made up of panels where the subject’s emphasis shifts. These photos may be seen as single pieces or as a sequence, depending on your perspective. The artist often uses the physical distance between subjects to convey emotional distance to the spectator. For his photos, Hilliard relies on his sexual tensions, anxieties, and contradictory emotions to create images that are universal in their appeal. He organises his subjects so that a single picture may depict the passage of time in a single frame.