Thanks for listening to this episode of conversations with New Zealand photographers. I’m recording this intro on the 4th May 2026

My name’s Andy Spain, I’m an architectural photographer, working on projects across Aotearoa. I make these sporadic podcasts with photographers and curators and others in the small photography world here at the bottom of the world, to create an archive and it gives me an excuse to talk to people who I find interesting - you can find out more about me at www.andyspain.nz

Earlier Today I spoke to Lissa Mitchel, currently, curator of historical photography at Te Papa

In 2023 she wrote, through shaded Glass: Women and Photography in Aotearoa New Zealand 1860-1960 and her current exhibition which she curated (alongside an accompanying catalogue) is called Slow Burn, Women and Photography. It’s a fantastic show, running throughout 2026 at Te Papa and has allowed Lissa to go through the archive of women and non binary photographers work since 1960 to the present day, as well as adding to the collection through new acquisitions. It’s a roll call of many of the great names in contemporary photography here as well as a few new one’s that have been fun to discover. I particularly enjoyed the video work of Johanna Mechen and the older polaroid work of Janet Bayly and Dinah Bradley, all of whom were new to me.

We recorded it in the exhibition space at Te Papa, so there is some background noise and we had to end up moving to another area and then the lights all came on full so there are a few minor distractions but nothing like the torrential rain that made my chat with Kate Van der Drift a few weeks back unusable - I hope to re-record that soon with her.

If you have any suggestions for other recordings or collabs then drop me a line.

Enough waffle - here my conversation with the lovely Lissa Mitchel.

Picture of Lissa by Maarten Holl

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A lovely conversation with Sara Orme about her journey in photography and her forthcoming publication, Kaumāua. From her website:

Sara Tautuku Orme (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Tarawhai, Ngāti Whakaue – Te Arawa) is a Tāmaki Makaurau-based photographer and social documentarian with a background in sociology and kaupapa Māori storytelling. Her work explores whakapapa, Māori identity, mana motuhake, and the enduring impacts of colonisation, often through intimate portraiture and oral histories.

Sara has been exploring whanaungatanga through her lens for over two decades. Her work has been exhibited in Aotearoa, Australia, and New York, and is held in public collections such as Waikato Museum.

Her most recent kaupapa, Kaumātua, records and preserves the kōrero whaiaro and mātauranga of Māori elders across Aotearoa. Rooted in tikanga and story sovereignty, the work combines large-format photographic portraiture with Māori oral histories.

She has exhibited at Te Papa, Caelum Gallery (New York), and Blindside (Melbourne), and in 2025 contributed to He Waka Eke Noa at Tim Melville Gallery. She has twice been recognised by the Contemporary New Zealand Art Awards (2022, 2023), receiving a national award for her photographic work. Her forthcoming book, Kaumātua Aotearoa, will be published by Auckland University Press in 2026.

Born in Ōtautahi, with whakapapa to Te Teko and Rotorua, Sara has lived in Tāmaki Makaurau for over 30 years, where she raised her tamariki and now her mokopuna. At home she is known as Sara, but on her marae, Ruaihona, in Te Teko, she is Hera — or, as some affectionately say, “the blonde.”

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On this podcast I talk to photographer and designer Neil Pardington. We talk about his early creative experiences, working with his sister, Fiona, on her 2026 Aotearoa / New Zealand Venice Biennale exhibition, influences of other photographers, his current project called Rimurapa (Bull Kelp) and much else.

Website https://neilpardington.com/

Andy Spain 2025

www.asvisual.nz

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