Murray Cammick - Flash Cars Photo Exhibition
Media Release: 21 July 2016
Murray Cammick
Flash Cars
3 – 31 August 2016 - The Black Asterisk Gallery, 10 Ponsonby Rd, AUCKLAND
Preview: 6.30 pm, Tues 2 August / Artist Talk: 2 pm, Sat 6 August
Murray Cammick’s classic documentary photos of the V8 cars and crews are back in town 3 – 31 August at The Black Asterisk on Auckland’s Ponsonby Road.
Cammick spent many weekend nights from 1974 to 1981photographing the Queen Street V8 scene – when the theatre patrons went back to the ‘burbs, Auckland’s main street was their place to park-up or cruise.
Cammick was a shy and naïve 20 year old when he started this series and revellers would see his SLR camera and hassle
him to – “take our photo!” – unaware that they were giving the quiet photographer the opportunity (and images) he was
looking for.
In 1977 Cammick and friend and musician Alastair Dougal established RipItUp music magazine. After he photographed concerts for RipItUp Cammick headed for Queen Street, but the scene faded away. A later photo might be a single car moving through the bleak
environment, looking for a scene that was no longer there.
When Cammick ended his involvement with RipItUp magazine in 1998, he set out to do a series of photographic exhibitions but was thwarted by photography going digital
and the loss of some of his negatives – last seen in the 1980s. In mid - 2014, the missing negatives were found and
aspecialist in the field of silver gelatin printing Jenny Tomlin undertook the printing of the still pristine condition negatives.
Cammick’s Queen Street photographs are represented in key collections (Te Papa) and books on creative NZ Photography. The current Flash Cars exhibition debuted at Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney in 2015.
Murray Cammick Flash Cars: Wed 3 – Wed 31 August 2016 / Preview: 6.30 pm, Tues 2 August / Artist Talk: 2 pm, Sat 6 August
Black Asterisk: 10 Ponsonby Road, Auckland. Open Tuesday to Saturday 11am to 5pm.
ends