Teina Pora to feature in art exhibition

Teina Pora, Louise Nicholas and four prisoners will feature in a photographic exhibition marking the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta.

The exhibition "No Free Man: To No One Deny Justice" opens at the University of Auckland's Gus Fisher Gallery next Friday and features images taken by photographer Nigel Swinn.

Swinn has focused on faces for the exhibition, to tell the story of how the Magna Carta has affected law in New Zealand.

Signed in June 1215 between the barons of England and King John, the Magna Carta was a series of written promises between the king and people that they would be governed under the customs of feudal law.

It was an attempt by the barons to ensure monarchs did not abuse their power.
The exhibition has been sponsored by the University of Auckland and Buddle Findlay and curated by Dr Erin Griffey, an expert on portraiture and Head of Art History at the university.

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

Associate professor of law Scott Optican commended the exhibition.

"Public discourse around criminal justice often transforms those involved with that system into abstract representations of guilt, innocence, victimisation, menace or custody," he said.

"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."

Teina Pora was twice wrongly convicted of murdering Susan Burdett. Earlier this year the Privy Council quashed his convictions and he is now a free man.

Louise Nicholas is a sexual abuse survivor advocate who complained about being sexually abused by three police officers. They were acquitted in 2007 and she has since become a staunch campaigner for victims' rights.