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).
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.