Conversātiō - In the company of bees
Conversātiō - In the company of bees
Anne Noble with Zara Stanhope and Anna Brown
Published by Massey University Press, September 2021
Hardback, RRP $60
Reviewed by Mary Macpherson for Landfall Online here
Reviewed by Peter Simpson for Kete Books here
Conversātiō looks at the astounding artistic practice of photographer Anne Noble ONZM, generated from her desire to understand and relate to the ecosystem we live within in a time of evident climate change. For more than half a decade Noble’s art has focused on that most important contributor to environmental health, the European bee. Reminiscent of an artist book in its extensive visual content, Conversātiō appeals to a wide readership curious about art, ecology, science, literature and their intersections.
Throughout Noble’s art appear newly commissioned essays which enlarge upon the artist’s deep interest in how humans relate to bees. From ‘living photograph’ cabinets installed indoors containing live beehives to images of communities of bees, photograms and tintype photographs showing the beauty of translucent bee wings and a series of electron microscope works acting as a museum for a time when the bee no longer exists, the book captures Noble’s close observation of the hive life of bees in rich detail.
The book is designed by award-winning designer Anna Brown and takes an innovative approach to book design, with the use of mixed paper stocks and a screen-printed cloth cover.
“I hope the book might be a delight to hold, to read and to look at. Also, that it might amplify the reader’s sense of the beauty of bees and their importance to the health and wellbeing of our ecosystems”, says Anne Noble of the book. “It includes content that spans science, literature and visual art. Through working with others, I have learned so much about bee perception: how they see, feel, smell, and how they communicate, do complex mathematics and much else. I am hoping that the presence of bees and people within this book will inspire curiosity and a little bit of wonder.”
This beautifully designed and packaged book comes with a bonus poster. Like the finest honey, it is a treasure.
Anne Noble is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most widely respected contemporary photographers; she has been at the fore front of photographic practice in New Zealand since the early 1980s. Creating bodies of work that mark sustained engagement with particular places, sites, histories, issues and, more recently, species, her images are known for their beauty, complexity and conceptual rigour and for their persistent inquiry into the ways we perceive and come to understand the natural world.
Anna Brown is a book designer, educator and researcher who works with visual artists, curators, art historians and musicians. She has taught editorial design, typography, and courses about the future of the book. Anna is currently the Director of Toi Āria — Design for Public Good, a research unit harnessing design for positive social change. Prior to joining Massey, she ran her own design business with a specialisation in book design.
Dr Zara Stanhope is Director of the Govett-Brewster Gallery in New Plymouth. She is the former Curatorial Manager, Asian and Pacific Art at Queensland Gallery of Modern Art | Gallery of Modern Art, and the lead curator of the 10th Asia Pacific Triennial (APT) for 2021. She has been the Deputy Director at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne; Director of Adam Art Gallery, Wellington; and Assistant Director, Monash University Gallery, Melbourne. She is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Art and Design at AUT University, Auckland, and at RMIT University, Melbourne. She has curated several major exhibitions and is a regular contributor to art magazines and journals.
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