By Robin Morrison (Massey University Press, 2023)
First published in 1981, The South Island of New Zealand: From the Road was the result of a road trip taken by the late photographer Robin Morrison and his family in 1979. While travelling through the South Island, Robin chose to take pictures of places and people, instead of the usual tussock-heavy landscapes that persist to this day. Robin died in 1993, and the ground-breaking book was never reprinted, until now.
It’s a stunner. Compelling, atmospheric and beautiful, its photos evoke a time when the whole South Island felt a small town, from pink PO Boxes at the Bainham Post Office, to Swanny-clad men eating hot dogs during a race meeting in Beaumont, to the Blackball Workingmen’s Club, caught on a misty Sunday afternoon.
LAURA WILLIAMSON
