Arwa Abouon
Libyan-Canadian photographer
Libyan-Canadian photographer
New Zealand photographer
New Zealand photographer
American explorer, war correspondent and lecturer
American author and ornithologist
As a member of the Auckland Community Welfare Council when it formed in mid 1924, Ferner was involved in providing important support for the passage of the Child Welfare Act in 1925. This experience, and her wider work on children’s issues, culminated in her appointment as one of the first three associate members of the Children’s Court in 1926.
A successful professional photographer and businesswoman, she was distinctive for her skill in formal portraiture, and for the broad range of New Zealand faces she captured. Several hundred thousand of her negatives are held in the Auckland Institute and Museum Library.
Prolific and multi-talented, Joanna Paul was one of the most gifted artists of her generation. Intensely responsive to the world around her, she depicted her surroundings, constantly reworking the conventions of drawing and watercolour painting. Paul also documented her environment in photographs and experimental short films, and published poetry, criticism and non-fiction.
She was among New Zealand’s early photographers, and was possibly the first woman professional.
The influence of Wearing’s 1992 Signs that Say can be seen across recent contemporary popular culture and media, particularly social media, wherein a photographic portrait of a stranger holding a handwritten sign in front of them is now a recognized format for truth-telling or confession.