Facing The Law

Facing The Law

Teina Pora, Louise Nicholas and four prisoners will feature in a dramatic photographic exhibition to open at the University of Auckland’s Gus Fisher Gallery on Friday 7 August.

Organised to mark the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta, photographer Nigel Swinn has focussed on faces to tell the story of the legacy of this document in New Zealand law titling the exhibition “No Free Man: To No One Deny Justice”.

Prominent law firm Buddle Findlay is the sponsor, and the curator is Dr Erin Griffey, an expert on portraiture and Head of Art History from the University of Auckland.

“Nigel Swinn has made stunning, hugely emotive larger than life photographic portraits that encourage us to engage with the humanity of the subjects,” Griffey says.

Associate Professor of Law Scott Optican commends the exhibition: “Public discourse around criminal justice often transforms those involved with that system into abstract representations of guilt, innocence, victimisation, menace or custody. Regardless of one’s perspective on such matters, this remarkable collection of portraits reminds us of the human actors whose lives have been touched, and in many cases irrevocably transformed, by their encounters with criminal law processes.”

The exhibition continues until Saturday 26 September 2015.

Photographer: Nigel Swinn
Curator: Dr Erin Griffey, The University of Auckland, e.griffey@auckland.ac.nz,
(09) 373 7599 ext 87253
Sponsors: The University of Auckland and Buddle Findlay
Location: Gus Fisher Gallery, The University of Auckland, 74 Shortland Street, Auckland.
Dates: Opening Friday 7 August until 26 September 2015

ENDS

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