By Bruce Connew
VUP, NZ$40 | Reviewed by Andy Palmer

BRUCE CONNEW is arguably New Zealand’s leading photojournalist. After seemingly taking most of the nineties off, this decade has seen him emerge anew. 1999 saw the publication of his superb, autobiographical On The Way To An Ambush. Since then we’ve seen his work published in Sport, New Zealand abroad: the story of VSA, My Place, People of the Eye: Stories from the deaf world and the exhibition and book Muttonbirds: part of a story. This year Connew has released I Saw You... and Stopover, both books accompanying exhibitions of the same name.

MARY AMERY explores Primary Products, a new Adam Art Gallery exhibition dealing in New Zealand’s forests, timber product, and its trade.

By Christopher Hope
Atlantic Books, NZ$28 | Reviewed by Jennifer Van Beynen

JOHANNESBURG-born writer Christopher Hope continues in a similar vein to his previous novels with his latest book, My Mother’s Lovers. A sprawling narrative set against the background of South Africa, and a savage attack on his birth country that criticises its history and political leadership from apartheid to the ‘new South Africa’, it could be easy to feel lost in My Mother’s Lovers if one has little prior knowledge of the vast continent. Hope not only covers South African history, delving into the origins of Johannesburg (described as being built upon the business of gold and whores), but dips into many surrounding countries, all the while maintaining an overarching criticism of colonialism and the white concept of ‘Africa’.

ALEXANDER BISLEY talks to artist Kelcy Taratoa, whose paintings are charged with an awareness of encroaching urban and popular culture.