The Visibility Paradigm

The Visibility Paradigm

William Barbedes & Emma Smith, Caryline Boreham, Sheryl Campbell, Solomon Mortimer, Yvonne Shaw, Hayley Thayers, Carly van Winkel, Chris Young.

Curated by Allan McDonald

Gallery One (formerly Snowwhite Gallery)

Unitec Building One, Auckland

25 May - 13 June 2018

Part of the Auckland Festival of Photography

Opening event Thursday 24th May 5.00pm – 7.00pm

Panel Discussion Saturday 9th June, 1.00pm – 2.00pm

Dr Leon Tan, William Bardebes, Allan McDonald, Dr Nina Seja, Dr Scott Wilson.

Foucault’s idea of the relationship between visibility and power is summed up most starkly when he wrote “Visibility is a trap.” Foucault’s observation can link back to Fox Talbot’s wife describing his cameras as ‘mouse traps’ and intuits the way many people feel the power imbalance in the presence of a photographer and how the photograph can diminish them. This exhibition housed inside a building that once functioned as a panopticon does not limit its scope to an examination of institutional power but also takes on more subtle interplays between visibility and control such as might exist in a look between two people.

Panel Discussion: Dr Leon Tan, William Bardebes, Allan McDonald, Dr Nina Seja, Dr Scott Wilson.                                                    

This panel discussion hosted by GALLERY ONE,  is a parallel event to the exhibition. It will take place inside a camera obscura under a veil of semi-darkness to play with conventions of visibility, the camera and the photographic audience. The discussion will examine notions of visibility, power and the camera in the age of face recognition technology.                                                                         

GALLERY ONE will be open daily from  9.30  – 4.00pm, Mon – Fri,  and is located inside the main entrance (through the glass doors) in Building One and to the right.