When a letter accompanied by a catalogue of the '97 San Marino International Photomeeting arrived at the NZ Centre for Photography towards the end of last year, it seemed a simple task to comply with a request for a New Zealand & Austarlian component in the forthcoming festival. While we were amused by the request for us to deal with the Australian leg of the contract, the only restriction which we encountered which caused all sorts of anxiety was that all entrants must be under the age of forty.

Having found out that this festival was worthy of our support we began to canvas opinions on who might be invited to submit a folio of unmounted prints no bigger than A4 to the Republic of San Marino, which has 25,000 inhabitants and covers an area of 60 square kilometers.

Because of time limitations we began to ring around and were shocked to discover that all the photographers we initially approached were over forty. By then a series of fortunate circumstances we were able to arrange for Bryn Evans and Colleen Maria Lenihan to send work away. The third nominee was not only under the age of forty, but was a Kiwi studying photography in Melbourne. Rebecca Shanahan made up our trio and at the same time satisfied the need for an Australian affiliation.

Then came the wait.

Finally in June this year the results were announced and to our pride and joy all three had made it into the finals and had their work exhibited in San Marino as well as seeing their work printed in the sumptous catalogue which accompanies the festival. The winner of the Romeo Martinez award for 1998 was a Peruvian photographer based in Mexico called Milagros de la Torre, who submitted photo documents of political torment and torture from Peru. Other finalists came from Argentina, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Japan and Spain.

We present the New Zealand entries along with biographical text, which accompanied each submission.

 

Rebecca Shanahan   Born in New Zealand in 1963, Rebecca Shanahan worked as an assistant graphic designer and photographer whilst playing in a musical group. Moving to Australia, she commenced formal art studies in 1988. She has exhibited photography, sculpture and installations from 1990. She has also taught art at a tertiary institution. Currently Rebecca Shanahan is studying towards a Master of Fine Art.
Colleen Maria Lenihan Born in Auckland on the 30th January 1974, Colleen Maria Lenihan is of Maori and Irish descent. She is affiliated to the Ngapuhi and Te Arawa tribes of the Far North. She studied Fine Arts at the Wanganui Regional Community Politechnic where she came under the influence of two American photographers. They were George Krause and Rita Dibert. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Her thesis featured the topic of Photography and Death. Colleen Maria Lenihan is currently working as the Information and Resource Officer at Toi Maori Aotearoa, a Maori Arts organisation. She continues to photograph and is pursuing photography as a career.
Bryn Evans Born in Opotiki in 1969, Bryn Evans' family moved to Hamilton six years later. He left school at sixteen and spent the next couple of years in the district on the dole and doing small part time jobs. Eventually his parents found him a position as an apprentice mechanis which he endured until he was twenty. Halfway through this apprenticeship he headed for the northern hemisphere. Two and a half years later, while living in Austria, he was moved by the flood of Yugoslavian refugees fleeing across the border. This established his interest in human and foreign affairs. Returning to New Zealand he embarked on a course of photography at the Wellington Politechnic where he distinguished himself with an Agfa scholarship, graduating in 1996 with a Diploma in Photography. The folio on Bourgainville arose through his family's long association with this area of the Pacific. Over 10,000 people have died in this little known war of independence from Papua New Guinea, which has recently been concluded after eight years of hostilities. Bryn Evans currently works out of London freelancing in reportage photography.