Bruce Connew is a social/political photographer. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand, and sometimes Paris. Apart from an early skirmish with the West Surrey College of Art and Design, south of London, Bruce is an autodidact.
His central projects have shown as solo exhibitions in most major public art galleries in New Zealand.
His first was ‘South Africa’ (Hodder & Stoughton, 1987). Two more recent photobooks — ‘I Saw You’ (Vapour Momenta Books, 2007) and ‘I Must Behave’ (Vapour Momenta Books, 2009) — reflect a protracted review of his documentary practice, as does his yet to be published 2011 series, ‘I Drive You Crazy, to the Moon’. His most recent series, ‘Body of Work’, published mid-November at Le Bal Books during Paris Photo 2015, acknowledges this ongoing review.
‘My work does not come from orderly research. An idea emerges from an assortment of simmering propositions, components of things yet to be fashioned. With these elements in hand, I set off in pursuit of other evidence from which to construct meaning.’
His work is in public and private collections in New Zealand and elsewhere.
Exhibitions (solo)
2013 · Censored, Examined, Exploited, Suite Gallery, Wellington
2012 · Stopover, Two Rooms Gallery, Auckland
2011 · I Drive You Crazy, to the Moon, Suite Gallery, Wellington
2011 · Karma Police and The Way We Live Now Suite Pop-Up Gallery, Wellington
2009 · I Must Behave, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth
2009 · Censored triptych, Mary Newton Gallery, Wellington
2009 · I Must Behave Mary Newton Gallery, Wellington
2008 · Stopover, Tauranga Art Gallery, Tauranga
2008 · On the way to an ambush, War Photo Limited, Dubrovnik, Croatia
2007 · Stopover, Pataka Art Gallery, Porirua, Wellington
2007 · I Saw You, Mary Newton Gallery, Wellington
2004–2005 · Muttonbirds - part of a story, McNamara Gallery, Whanganui; Lopdell House Gallery, Auckland; Hirschfeld Gallery, City Gallery, Wellington
2002–2003 · Press Escape to Cancel, te tuhi, Auckland; Rotorua Museum, Rotorua; Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui
1998 · On the way to an ambush, performance/projection, Foundings Theatre, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington
1995–1997 · Suburbs, Dowse Art Museum, Wellington; Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui; Manawatu Art Gallery, Palmerston North; Rotorua Museum and Art Gallery, Rotorua
1988–1990 · Beyond the Pale, Dowse Art Museum, Wellington; Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland; various venues, Buller/Westland
1986 · Kanaky, New Zealand universities (touring)
1986–1987 · South Africa, National Art Gallery, Wellington; Hastings City Cultural Centre, Hastings; Fisher Gallery, Auckland; Robert McDougall Gallery, Christchurch; Govett-Brewster Gallery, New Plymouth; Sarjeant Gallery, Whanganui
1980 · Portfolio 1976-1980, PhotoForum Gallery, Wellington
Books (solo)
2015 · Body of Work, Vapour Momenta Books
2009 · I Must Behave, Vapour Momenta Books
2009 · Censored, GRANTA 105, Spring 2009
2007 · I Saw You, Vapour Momenta Books
2007 · Stopover, Victoria University Press and University of Hawai’i Press
2004 · Muttonbirds—part of a story, Vapour Momenta Books
2000 · Press Escape to Cancel, SPORT 24, Fergus Barrowman
1999 · On the way to an ambush, Victoria University Press
1995 · Suburbs, self-published catalogue
1987 · South Africa, Hodder & Stoughton
