Music Photos by Murray Cammick – The Show Must Go On
After the success of the 2020 Flash Cars show, Murray Cammick returns to Photospace.nz Gallery in Wellington with a selection of his classic music images. This music show is based on the earlier 2017 punk & new wave focussed exhibition that was shown in Sydney and Auckland. Additions to this show include photographs of Bob Dylan, Roxy Music, Kate Bush, Tina Turner and previously unseen Bob Marley images.
The Show Must Go On is a phrase we associate with the history of music, theatre and the arts. It is an ironic title in that music venues have been among the activities hardest hit by Covid-19 due to their being inoperable due to the nature of the pandemic.
The photographer is using this title to encourage people to once again visit and patronise the small art galleries of inner-city Wellington and inner-city Auckland. Many of those galleries have survived the pandemic and now need to regain their audience.
“I’m saying the art show must go on,” says Cammick, “and inner-city culture must thrive. We can start by planning an inner-city exercise route that takes us to the galleries of Cuba St and Courtenay Place in Wellington or Karangahape Rd and Lorne St in Auckland. Viewing art is compatible with mask-life and Covid-19 passports. Safety must be our first concern but we all need to put on our Autumn bucket lists: spend some money at an inner-city business,” suggests Cammick. “We have to avoid the cultural hearts of our cities becoming ghost towns.”
The exhibition of music images largely consists of high-quality black and white images printed using the traditional silver gelatin process by top New Zealand printer Jenny Tomlin.
The Wellington show has also added a few colour photographs of local legends from the 1980’s and 1990’s including Herbs and Shihad. These colour images utilise digital printing.
When RipItUp magazine started in June 1977, co-publisher Cammick and original editor Alastair Dougal were not aware of how radical the changes in music culture would be as the decade ended. Foreign punk / new wave acts like The Ramones, Iggy Pop and Blondie visited and locals like Suburban Reptiles, The Scavengers and Toy Love put some energy into the scene. These local musicians appeared on the classic New Zealand punk compilation AK•79.
New Zealand musicians were inspired by the success of Split Enz overseas and original writers like Hello Sailor, Th’ Dudes and Sharon O’Neill found respect for their own songs. In a time of cultural change, RipItUp and Cammick’s camera documented important cultural events such as Bob Marley’s 1979 visit to New Zealand and suburban cultural events like young band Screaming Meemees playing in a packed North Shore suburban hall.
For those who liked their music raw, seedy local venues were the place to worship and the Zwines and Mainstreet mosh-pits were where alienated youth gathered to enjoy the company of kindred-souls. Cammick captures the tribal, sweaty audience as well as the musicians.
Prior to starting RipItUp in 1977, Cammick was the designer of Craccum, Auckland student newspaper in 1976. He studied photography at Elam School of Fine Arts 1973 to 1975 with lecturers John B. Turner and Tom Hutchins who encouraged him to take socio-political photos for the student newspaper. Cammick took the first photos of the Flash Cars series at Elam and learnt a respect for the documentary tradition in photography.
Reflecting on his music photos for the Capture blog, Cammick wrote: “I tried to document the music and the scene as a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ documentary photographer. You either contribute to the myths / bullshit of rock n roll or you try and show some of the reality of the grind of promotion and touring. I recall being at Craccum in 1976 and being delighted that our music editor John Robson came back from a press conference with a photo of Frank Zappa drinking a cup of tea. How sublimely un-rock n roll!
“Shooting un-rock n roll photos became something to aspire to, so I was pleased to get Iggy Pop in his clunky reading glasses laughing at the Talking Heads story in RipItUp magazine. As we arrived at Iggy’s White Heron Hotel room he was still in his pyjamas and I sneaked a shot but he heard the camera and made it clear, “No photos in my pyjamas.”
“For years I’ve regretted that I did not capture the glamour of Debbie Harry in my 1977 photos, but now I am starting to appreciate that they show a tired young woman who briefly leaves an international flight in Auckland to do a day’s promo. She is giving copies of the New York “Punk” magazine to the RipItUp writer Jeremy Templer.” Arrive from the USA at dawn – a day of interviews in Auckland, then on a plane to Melbourne for a TV interview that night. That’s life.
Cammick’s black & white music photography was featured in Art New Zealand Autumn 2015 issue.
“In the early days I chose to define myself as a photographer – an identity for myself – my Minolta SLR camera was almost permanently around my neck,” says Cammick. “I guess that gave me the purpose and status that young people seek in life. I was part of the ‘taking photographs’ gang. In the early days it was easier to be a ‘fly on the wall’ when photographing musicians who were near to my age. As I grew older and got busy as RipItUp editor, it is was enjoyable to give the opportunities to take photos to younger photographers.”
The Show Must Go On
Music Photos by Murray Cammick
April 9 – May 28, 2022
1st floor, 37 Courtenay Place, Te Aro, Wellington
10am-3pm Mon-Fri, 11am-2pm Sat
