. . . and then there were none

A collaborative book by four New Zealand-based photographers and one writer, breaks out of conventional story-telling to play out their anxieties and doubts about the world they see.

Developed over the last two years with regular meetings indulgent in wine and homemade cheese as excuses for friendship and banter, . . . . . and then there were none grew from conversations and arguments about mortality, our technologically mired existence and the degradation of the environment. The project triggered its own version of flygskam for the collaborators, conflicted by the international travel that made many of the photographs and the writing possible and tainted by knowing the greater price to be paid. Images included from such travels are drenched in sordid human histories that recall the myriad pathways that have led us to now, and to what comes next.

The nod to mortality echoing through the book is rendered stark by the recent death of one of us, adding a sense of urgency to the title of the book – not just for the remaining collaborators, but for us all.