After the success of the 2016 Flash Cars show, Murray Cammick returns to Black Asterisk Gallery with a selection of music images with AK•75-85. Once again Cammick is exhibiting limited edition, silver-gelatin prints derived directly from his negatives and printed by Jenny Tomlin.
In this show Cammick has not strayed far from the Queen Street of Flash Cars, as the music of the day revolved around inner city venues. The offices of RipItUp, that Cammick co-published, were never far from Queen St with the most classic location for the magazine being above Stones’ Shoes on the corner of Darby Street and Queen Street.
AK•75-85
Music Photos by Murray Cammick
Tuesday 1st – Tuesday 22nd August 2017
Black Asterisk Gallery
10 Ponsonby Rd, Auckland
Preview: Tues 1 August, 6.30pm
Artist Talk: Sat 5 August, 2pm
Press Release:
When RipItUp started in June 1977, Cammick and original editor Alastair Dougal were not aware of how radical the changes in music culture would be as the decade ended. Foreign punk/new wave acts like The Ramones, Iggy Pop and Blondie visited and locals like The Suburban Reptiles, The Scavengers and Toy Love put some energy into the scene.
New Zealand musicians were inspired by the success of Split Enz overseas and original writers like Hello Sailor, Th’ Dudes and Sharon O’Neill found respect for their own songs. In a time of cultural change, RipItUp and Cammick documented important cultural events such as Bob Marley’s 1979 visit to New Zealand and suburban cultural events like North Shore band The Screaming Meemees playing in a packed suburban hall.
For those who liked their music raw, seedy local venues were the place to worship and the Zwines and Mainstreet mosh-pits were where alienated youth gathered to enjoy the company of kindred-souls. Cammick’s camera captures the tribal audience as well as the sweaty musicians who command the scene. Cammick documented “a good night out” and “another generation of musicians finding their own voice” – cultural pleasure and cultural importance.
Prior to starting RipItUp in 1977, Cammick was the designer of Craccum, Auckland student newspaper in 1976. He studied photography at Elam School of Fine Arts 1973 to 1975 with lecturers John B. Turner and Tom Hutchins who encouraged him to take socio-political photos for the student newspaper. Cammick took the first photos of the Flash Cars series at Elam and learnt a respect for the documentary tradition in photography.
Reflecting on his music photos for the Capture blog (2012), Cammick wrote:
“I tried to document the music and the scene as a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ documentary photographer. You either contribute to the myths/bullshit of rock n roll or you try and show some of the reality of the grind of touring and promotion. I recall being the designer at Craccum in 1976 and being delighted that our music editor John Robson came back from a press conference with a photo of Frank Zappa drinking a cup of tea. How sublimely un-rock n roll!”
“Shooting un-rock ‘n’ roll photos became something to aspire to, so I was pleased to get Iggy Pop in his clunky reading glasses laughing at the Talking Heads story in RipItUp magazine. As we arrived at Iggy’s White Heron Hotel room he was still in his pyjamas and I sneaked a shot but he heard the camera and made it clear, “No photos in my pyjamas.”
“For years I’ve regretted that I did not capture the beauty of Debbie Harry in my 1977 photos, but now I am starting to appreciate that they show a tired young woman who briefly leaves an international flight in Auckland to do a day’s promo. She is giving copies of the New York Punk magazine to the RipItUp writer Jeremy Templer. Debbie Harry arrived from the USA at dawn – a day of interviews in Auckland, then on a plane to Melbourne for a TV interview that night. That’s life.”