On Cook Strait ferry, 1974

item details

NameOn Cook Strait ferry, 1974

ProductionLen Wesney; photographer; 1974; New Zealand

Classificationblack-and-white prints, gelatin silver prints, documentary photographs, works of art, portraits

Materialsphotographic gelatin, silver, photographic paper, mounting board

Materials Summaryblack and white photograph, gelatin silver print

Techniquesblack-and-white photography

DimensionsImage: 244mm (width), 165mm (height)

Registration NumberO.028080

Credit linePurchased 2004

Overview

Person (male?) lying with back to viewer on squabs, facing a speckle patterned wall with a portrait of Queen Elizabeth on it. Figure wears light coloured checked, short-sleeved shirt, shorts, white socks, and shoes.

This extract originally appeared in New Zealand Photography Collected: 175 Years of Photography in Aotearoa (Te Papa Press, 2025) on page 280.

Urban alienation is a theme that runs through some social documentary work in the 1960s and 1970s... It clearly surfaces in this image by Len Wesney where Queen Elizabeth faces us from behind her metal barrier. Below the reproduction painting, a real-life figure lying on dismal vinyl squabs under harsh fluorescent lights tries to endure the tedium of a ferry crossing by shutting out the world.