New Zealand artist and photographer Eric Lee-Johnson used light in interesting ways in his photography. Here is a selection of images he created in the 1950s.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Andi is forced to move back in with their family. There, they find within themselves an unexpected hope and clarity emerging from uncertainty.
Join Billy Harrison and Hine Waitai-Dye in this workshop centred around tārai waka (canoe building) practices, immersing you in mātauranga waka.
Icarus, circa 1957, Waimamaku, by Eric Lee-Johnson. Purchased 1997 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. CC BY-NC-ND licence. Te Papa (O.007722)
Wuhanese international student Xinyi makes an anxious, memorable trip to the supermarket during the first nationwide lockdown in March 2020.
As part of the exhibition He Kaupapa Waka, we’re hosting mātanga tārai waka (canoe building specialists) Billy Harrison and Hine Waitai-Dye as they share mātauranga about kaupapa waka.
Star Trails, Northland, 1950s, Waimamaku, by Eric Lee-Johnson. Purchased 1997 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa. CC BY-NC-ND licence. Te Papa (O.008205)
Observe, ask questions, and learn as Billy Harrison and Hine Waitai-Dye undertake lashing maintenance on waka tauā Māmari, on display in ‘He Kaupapa Waka’.
Eric Lee-Johnson was mostly known as a painter in his time, but he was also a prolific photographer. In the late 1950s he took a series of night photographs in which he would leave the camera shutter open for long periods.
In some of these he recorded star trails, the concentric circles made as the stars move over the night sky. In others he used a torch or other light to create his own ‘trails’, whirling the light source around as he stood in front of the camera. You can’t usually see him because his figure is much dimmer than his lights.
When you take these sorts of photographs you cannot exactly predict the results. But Lee-Johnston had a background as a graphic designer, and might have wanted more control, because some of the images are made by sandwiching more than one shot. This is clearly the case with the top dressing plane, because such aircraft do not operate at night.
It may just be speculation, but Lee-Johnson could have been inspired by the first spacecraft launched into space, Sputnik 1, in 1957.
