Click to enlarge
Media Release 30 October 2006
Auckland Art Gallery is rescuing its 1960s and 70s colour photos from fading into obscurity with a new purpose-built
cool store.
Colour photos begin to degrade within 30 years in normal conditions.
But recent research has found their life-span can be extended to over 300 years if kept in a cool, dark environment at
40% humidity.
The gallery’s new Marylyn Mayo intern Katherine Bol will spend the next 10 weeks helping the registration team to
document and move over 2,800 photos into the 3m x 5m cool store.
The move comes just in the nick of time, with only a handful of polaroids beyond saving.
It ensures this valuable historical record - including photos by Brian Brake, Robin Morrison, John Kinder and the Burton
Brothers - is preserved for future generations.
Bol, 26, has an MA in museums and cultural heritage from Auckland University. She works one day a week at Archives New
Zealand and is a volunteer at Howick Historical Village.
She recently took part in a Te Papa project rehousing Egyptian artefacts.
The annual internships were established last year thanks to the generosity of Queensland academic Dr John Mayo in memory
of his late wife Marylyn, a New Zealander with a lifelong interest in the arts, education, law and health.
Gallery director Chris Saines says there was a clear need for this type of assistance.
“The gallery had already hosted a number of informal internships over the years for students seeking practical
experience. Dr Mayo’s generosity and foresight will make a huge difference to future professionalism in the sector,” he
says.
The inaugural Marylyn Mayo intern Greg Anderson spent four months working alongside gallery staff on the Art & the 60s from Tate Britain exhibition. A third intern, Renee Tanner, begins a 12-week outreach education programme in
January.
ENDS