Tuesday 16 July 2024, 12pm to 1pm
Online
In this talk, researcher Simon Nathan will talk about the photography of Joseph Divis photography — a unique record of life in mining communities that is now held in public collections.
Photographs of life in a mining town
Joseph Divis arrived in New Zealand from Bohemia in 1909. A working miner, he readily found work in New Zealand mines, finally settling in the remote town of Waiuta, near Reefton. Divis had a camera, and photography provided him with a secondary income for the next 25 years.
His photographs provide a unique record of New Zealand mining communities in the early 20th century. Divis also travelled extensively and photographed the countries he visited.
Researching Joseph Divis across collections
Simon Nathan has been researching Joseph Divis for over a decade, and will outline the extent of his photography and the material held in public collections, including a significant collection held in the Alexander Turnbull Library.
Nathan recently co-curated an exhibition of Divis’ photographs at the National Library of New Zealand. Cast in light: Life in a mining town, focused particularly on photographs of life in Waiuta above and below ground.
Cast in light online exhibition
About the speaker
Simon Nathan is a geologist, science historian, and writer. In recent years he has become interested New Zealand photographers, and has published illustrated accounts of 19th century photographer Alexander McKay and aerial photographer Lloyd Homer. He has researched the career of miner and photographer Joseph Divis, leading to a biography (now in its 3rd edition), the Cast in light exhibition at the National Library, and a documentary film, JOS, the forgotten photographer who saved a town.