item details
NameTuvaluan and Tokelauan wedding, Nafamia Samoan Methodist Church, Auckland. Marriage of Makulu Siliga (bride) and Luka Tetau (groom)
ProductionGlenn Jowitt; photographer; 2000; Auckland
Classificationcolour photographs, inkjet prints, works of art, documentary photographs, portraits
Materialsink, paper
Materials Summarycolour photograph, inkjet print
Techniquescolour photography
DimensionsImage: 481mm (width), 325mm (height)
Registration NumberO.041144
Credit linePurchased 2012
Overview
This wedding began in a formal, Christian manner, with bride and groom dressed in conventional Western outfits. Now man and wife, they have put on Pacific costumes for the customary dancing.
Glenn Jowitt generally worked in a documentary style, operating as if he were an invisible observer. This image offers an exception – the subjects look directly at him, at the camera.
The warmth of the picture gives an insight into the close connection that Jowitt felt with many of the Pacific people he photographed. ‘I had found this whole other family,’ he said. ‘Through their kind ways, I have learnt where I stand in this place, Auckland.’