NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Entertainment

For the record

NZ Herald
14 Jun, 2013 09:27 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Pat Hanly in his studio with Tamsin. Photo / Gil Hanley

Pat Hanly in his studio with Tamsin. Photo / Gil Hanley

Adam Gifford talks to photographer Gil Hanly, who has made a career of capturing people going about their business.

Gil Hanly is a familiar figure around Auckland at art gallery openings, writers' festivals, garden shows, public celebrations and protests, quietly documenting it all with her camera. Looking back through her scrapbooks, one realises how invaluable that sort of consistent chronicling is to a culture - who was there and how things may have fitted together, seen with an insider's eye.

There are two chances to see Hanly's work in this year's Auckland Festival of Photography.

Her portraits of artists in their studios, commissioned by collector Sir James Wallace, is on show at the Pah Homestead.

And at the Nathan Homestead in Manurewa until tomorrow are her photos from hui of Nga Puna Waihanga, the Association of Maori Artists and Writers.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She shares the Nga Puna Waihanga show with John Miller from Ngapuhi, another extraordinary chronicler of public life stretching back to Vietnam-era protests. "John told me he was doing this show, and I said, 'I photographed six of those hui and I don't remember you there', so we decided it better be a joint show," says Hanly.

She developed an interest in photography at art school in Christchurch in the 1950s, even though it was not taught there, and took a few photos of the "Hi Mum, here we are" variety when living in Europe in the 1960s. She regrets she didn't pursue it further then; it was only in the late 1970s, when she went on a holiday to Fiji with husband Pat and bought a camera at duty free, that she realised how much she liked it.

"We went to America. Pat got a grant to look at outdoor murals and I took the pictures, and then when we came back the Springbok Tour came along, and that's when I thought, 'I'm going to be a photographer'."

She did a one-year course at Elam to beef up her technical knowledge, then packed in her job at the University Bookshop to freelance for whoever she could - Broadsheet, Craccum, the Listener.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"I'm a very conventional photographer, I don't see myself as an art photographer," she says. "I was taking pictures of things we were involved with, like the Peace Squadron, and Greenpeace hired me to document the raising of the Rainbow Warrior. I think I photographed things I thought might make a difference, more social commentary photography."

Eventually, Hanly also found steady work photographing gardens which, as a keen gardener, (Far left) Ceramics artist Bronwyn Cornish; (above) Pat Hanly working in his studio with Tamsin, circa 1968; (left) Gil Hanly.she enjoyed. "I'm interested in the big picture, how things relate to each other, rather than staring down the throat of a single flower. That's how I am with the artist portraits - I don't like set-up portraits much, I prefer to capture people in action."

Her brief from Sir James Wallace was to photograph artists in the Wallace collection in their studios as a snapshot of a work in progress. Some resisted being caught in their private space, but if anyone can break down that reserve it's Hanly, who has spent a lifetime in studios - the earliest picture is of Pat with their daughter Tamsin in 1968.

There's a warmth and intimacy to the pictures of old friends and neighbours, such as sculptor Bronwyn Cornish, who appear to have forgotten the camera as they get on with their work. Others seem more formal. Michael Smither looks as if he'd rather be outside looking at his fishponds.

Discover more

Entertainment

A cry for protection

24 May 09:02 PM
Entertainment

10th Auckland Festival of Photography begins

29 May 07:34 PM

Hanly sees the project as a work in progress.

"I can revisit. I like going back. I revisit gardens, too, to see what happens. Things change, and maybe you get a better shot next time because everyone is relaxed."

The Nga Puna Waihanga show starts with Miller's photos of some of the earlier hui, starting with the first at Te Kaha in 1973. It quickly became a magnet for Maori intellectual and cultural activity. Youngsters such as Witi Ihimaera, Hana Te Hemara and Ngahuia Te Awekotuku were rubbing shoulders with artists in their prime, like Ralph Hotere, Selwyn Muru, Para Matchitt and Hone Tuwhare, as well as masters of the traditional arts, John Taiapa and Digger Te Kanawa. A later hui at Wairoa saw Tamati and Tilly Reedy, Rauru Kirikiri and Piri Sciascia pictured singing enthusiastically, before they became better known as public servants.

The Listener asked Hanly to cover the event at Waahi Pa in Huntly in the early 1980s, and she was then invited back to subsequent ones, including the last at Te Kaha, where the event had swelled to 3000 participants over seven marae on a wet winter weekend. "It just got too big," she says.

It was also an early exercise in marae DIY - Hanly documents artist Jacob Scott taking in his students before the Te Kaha event to refurbish the painting inside the meeting house.

Hanly says as a Pakeha, she wouldn't go into that environment without an invitation. "I knew a lot of the artists anyway through Pat and the art world. I backed off when I decided there were enough young kids doing stuff, waving cameras around. They may as well do it. I'm perfectly happy to still cover political things. I'll go to Waitangi and listen to what is said, or something like the protests to get Maori seats on the council. Takaparawha [marae] occasionally ring me up to ask me to cover something there."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Auckland Festival of Photography

What: Gil Hanly: Artists in Situ

Where and when: Pah Homestead, Wallace Arts Centre, Hillsborough, to July 28
What: John Miller and Gil Hanly: Nga Puna Waihanga

Where and when: Nathan Homestead, Manurewa, ends tomorrow

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Entertainment

Entertainment

'Magic mix': NZ Youth Choir's stunning win at European competition

07 Jul 03:07 AM
Royals

'Deeply saddened': Children’s theatre pioneer dies at 61 after cancer battle

07 Jul 02:49 AM
Entertainment

Building a Lego-cy: The brick-mad Kiwi mums taking on the legends of Lego

07 Jul 02:00 AM

Sponsored: Get your kids involved in your reno

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Entertainment

'Magic mix': NZ Youth Choir's stunning win at European competition

'Magic mix': NZ Youth Choir's stunning win at European competition

07 Jul 03:07 AM

The choir hit a high note in their first European tour since the pandemic.

'Deeply saddened': Children’s theatre pioneer dies at 61 after cancer battle

'Deeply saddened': Children’s theatre pioneer dies at 61 after cancer battle

07 Jul 02:49 AM
Building a Lego-cy: The brick-mad Kiwi mums taking on the legends of Lego

Building a Lego-cy: The brick-mad Kiwi mums taking on the legends of Lego

07 Jul 02:00 AM
'I'm back baby': Lewis Capaldi returns to NZ for two special shows

'I'm back baby': Lewis Capaldi returns to NZ for two special shows

06 Jul 10:00 PM
Sponsored: Why heat pumps make winter cheaper
sponsored

Sponsored: Why heat pumps make winter cheaper

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP