John Daley: Thirteen - New Zealand Writers, 1992

Witi Ihimaera, Maurice Gee, Margaret Mahy, Albert Wendt, Owen Marshall, Patricia Grace, Brian Boyd, Keri Hume, Maurice Shadbolt, Lauris Edmond, Marilyn Duckworth, Bill Manhire & Janet Frame.

John Daley [b.1946] decided at thirteen that he wanted to spend his life taking photographs.

Of his experience in photographing thirteen New Zealand writers, he says: "Writers seem generally to be great homebodies, reluctant to venture forth from their own territory to be photographed however much travelling they might do inside their heads. They don't appear to place any great importance on the environment in which they are seen, compared with other kinds of people I have photographed. This special reserve makes them difficult subjects - they live by their words and their visions of life are largely private. They don't see themselves as being externalised in real settings, perhaps because they are so used to conjuring up the whole scene themselves."

The writers were chosen for this project by the fiction writer, publishing consultant and literary agent Michael Gifkins [1945 ]. He says the writers "virtually selected themselves. I took as my brief to choose writers at the peak of their careers, whose work was of international standing. I was also looking for representation across the genres, which in the end came quite naturally”. "My one regret about this project is that two of my early selections, the poets Allen Curnow and Hone Tuwhare, felt unable to participate”.

We are also exhibiting proof sheets which feature twelve negatives per sheet, constituting the photographer’s ‘sketch book’.

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