Laurence Geoffrey Aberhart (born 1949) is a New Zealand photographer.

Biography

Aberhart was born in

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

in 1949, along with three siblings, and was educated at

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand, a feat achieved in part thanks to its original inception as a private school. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it r ...

from 1963 to 1966.''Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–2006'', 6th edition He moved to Lyttelton in the late 1960s, before finally moving to Russell where he still lives and works today. Aberhart travels often and has produced many collections of photographs taken around the world. Although he photographs numerous subjects, Aberhart is best known for his photography of buildings from around the world. His subject matter includes

Masonic lodges A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

, war memorials, houses and the occasional landscape. However, when he was typecast as a building photographer, Aberhart took a series of human portraits to debunk the stereotype.Caughey, E. & Gow, J. (1997). ''Contemporary New Zealand Art 1''. David Bateman, Auckland.O'Brien, G. & Paton, J. (2007). ''Aberhart - Laurence Aberhart Photographs''. Victoria University Press. . Aberhart trained to become a primary teacher and it was around that time when he first became interested in photography by reading the photographic books on display and seeing a friend working in the darkroom. Aberhart taught himself photography. After finishing his teaching course, he was posted in Northland. This was his only posting as a teacher and soon after he took up photography seriously.Main, W. & Turner, J.B. (1993). ''New Zealand Photography from the 19840s to the Present: Nga Whakaahua O Aotearoa Mai i 1840 ki Naianei''. Photo Forum, Auckland. Aberhart has three children, who were the subject of a series of photographs in the 1980s, but is unmarried.

Photographic style and works

Aberhart's work is prominent in New Zealand and he is often seen as one of the forefathers of New Zealand's contemporary photographic history. He has been featured in many photographic exhibitions since 1978; his work has been shown in museums across the globe, including Australia, the United States and France.A partial list appears o
the page about him
at the Sue Crockford Gallery page. In addition to numerous photographic exhibitions across New Zealand, Aberhart was Artist In Residence at the

Tylee Cottage Residency The Tylee Cottage Residency is an artist-in-residence programme facilitated by the Sarjeant Gallery in Whanganui, New Zealand. The scheme began in 1986 as a partnership between the Sarjeant Gallery, the Wanganui District Council and the QEII Art ...

Wanganui Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest nav ...

in 1986 and the

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Public Art Gallery in the late 1990s. Aberhart bought an old camera to begin photographing. However, soon after he began using it in the late 1960s, the paper used to print the negatives on went out of production as well. Aberhart has been known to use

platinum print Platinum prints, also called ''platinotypes'', are photographic prints made by a monochrome photographic printing, printing process involving platinum. Platinum tones range from warm black, to reddish brown, to expanded mid-tone grays that are ...

s when developing photographs, but also uses other paper such as silver gelatine prints. Owing to this unusual photographic process, each print would take in excess of eight hours to fully develop in Aberhart's darkroom. In addition, the time between Aberhart taking the photo and actually developing it was in some instances large; he would often develop photographs years later. Indeed, in one instance, he waited from 1978 until the early 2000s to develop one photograph. Aberhart was fairly limited in his subject matter, sticking mainly to

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

carvings, buildings,

museology Museology (also called museum studies or museum science) is the study of museums. It explores the history of museums and their role in society, as well as the activities they engage in, including curating, preservation, public programming, and ed ...

and memorials. However, feeling pressed by others' perception that he was typecast, he released a series of photographs of his children in the 1980s. Perhaps his most expensive and memorable prints are the "Prisoner's Dream" series of five photographs. At the centre of the series is

Mount Taranaki Mount Taranaki (), officially Taranaki Maunga and also known as Mount Egmont, is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. At , it is the second highest mountain in the North Island, afte ...

. This picture is special due to its long exposure time of over five hours. This was caused by Aberhart's absence to take a 'nap', but he didn't awaken until a while later. The whole photograph was lit by moonlight and was nearly thrown out as rubbish by Aberhart when he realised how long it had been exposed for. This is one of his most expensive photographs.

References

External links

Works at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa TongarewaBiography and works, Sarjeant GalleryBiography, exhibitions and series of work from Laurence Aberhart

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aberhart, Laurence 1949 births Living people 20th-century New Zealand artists New Zealand male photographers People educated at Nelson College People from Russell, New Zealand 21st-century New Zealand artists 20th-century New Zealand male artists 21st-century New Zealand male artists 20th-century New Zealand photographers 21st-century New Zealand photographers