Picture this: you're a successful photographer — known, noted and kept busy with commercial as well as book photography — when you're offered an opportunity which probably won't earn you a cent, will involve journeying on roads less travelled and, at times, prove to be a logistical nightmare. Not to mention the fact you'll find yourself in lively discussions about whether you should do the work at all.
A year after you finish the assignment, you'll reflect on it and describe it as one of the best experiences of your life. "Not just from a photography point of view," says Kieran E. Scott, "but more from an experiential point of view. I wanted to do it because I love photography. I don't think of the commercial work I do as the 'bread and butter' that allows me to do other work; it's the brioche with a slice of ham because I love all the work I do."
From early 2016 to mid-2017, Scott photographed 240 women — all around the world — for the book 200 Women: who will change the way you see the world, by Ruth Hobday and Geoff Blackwell. There were famous and unknown women of all ages, creeds, colours, classes, and castes; all were asked the same five questions, including "What really matters to you?" and "What would you change in the world if you could?"
Fifteen of those portraits, including New Zealand interviewees Louise Nicholas, Marilyn Waring, Kimbra, Lydia Ko and Marama Fox, go on display this month at the Aotea Centre. The exhibition also includes exclusive video interviews that explore diversity, equality, and authenticity. It's part of Auckland Live's Women 20-18 to commemorate 125 years of women's suffrage in New Zealand.
Scott says on the first trip to Africa, to photograph women like Graca Michel, a political and social activist who's also the widow of Nelson Mandela, he became more conscious of the politics around the work. At a dinner, he was challenged as to why a man was photographing the women.
