After returning to Aotearoa New Zealand from New York, where he had been working as a fashion photographer, Russ Flatt (Ngāti Kahungunu) completed a PGDip FA at Auckland University’s Elam School of Fine Arts.
He graduated in 2013 having won the University’s Post-graduate Photography Prize.
Flatt’s work addresses notions of identity and belonging – including queer and Māori identities – and his early works evoke a re-imagined past as a means to understand and recognise the present.
More recently his practice has expanded to encompass drone and Point Cloud imaging technology, through which he has produced both still photographs and moving image works.
Te ahua, te wa, te atea was first presented at the MTG Napier and, in expanded form, as Tekau mā rua at Tim Melville Gallery in 2022.
It includes hawk’s-eye views of significant sites where Ngāti Kahungunu were alienated by Pakeha settlement of Heretaunga Hawkes Bay.
Survey is an overview of Flatt’s photographic work since 2010 and runs alongside an exhibition of moving image works by ten Māori artists at Te Tuhi, Pakuranga: Takiwā Hou, Imagining New Spaces (until 24 May).
Russ Flatt, Bridget Reweti, Reuben Paterson, Suzanne Tamaki, Kaaterina Kerekere, Jamie Berry, Keri-Mei Zagrobelna, Layne Waerea, Rangituhia Hollis, Kahurangiariki Smith.
Curated for Te Tuhi by Karl Chitham, Director Dowse Art, Takiwā Hou is a snapshot of the unique perspectives Indigenous artists bring to the global stage.
Survey coincides also with the opening of RUSS FLATT: Te ahua, te wa, te atea at the Dowse Art Museum in Lower Hutt (18 May – 03 November)
Russ Flatt
Survey
2024
Installation view
Russ Flatt
Survey
2024
Installation view
Russ Flatt
Mr Speaker
2021
Inkjet photograph on Ilford Cotton Rag
1000mm H x 2000mm W
Ed: 3 + 1 AP
Russ Flatt
931
2016
inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
1189mm H x 841mm W
Ed: 3 + 1 AP
Russ Flatt
931
2016
inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
1189mm H x 841mm W
Ed: 3 + 1 AP
Russ Flatt
Ritual
2018
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemüle Photo Rag
762mm H x 1143mm W
Ed: 3 + 1 AP
Russ Flatt
Outside Edge
2015
inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
1188mm H x 840mm W
Ed : 3 + 1 AP
Russ Flatt
Russian Split
2015
inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
1188mm H x 840mm W
Ed: 3 + 1 AP
Russ Flatt
Swimming Pool #1
2013
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
730mm H x 910mm W
Ed: 3 + 1 AP
Russ Flatt
Snap
2013
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
762mm H x 1067mm W
AP
Russ Flatt
Survey
2024
Installation view
Russ Flatt
Sundae
2013
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
790mm H X 790mm W (frame)
Ed: 3 + 1 AP
Russ Flatt
Bicycle
2010
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
755mm H x 965mm W (frame)
Ed: 3 + 1 AP
Russ Flatt
Girl #2
2013
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
1820mm H x 910mm W
Ed: 3 + 1 AP
Russ Flatt
Survey
2024
Installation
Russ Flatt
Survey
2024
Installation view
Russ Flatt
Complicit
2019
Inkjet photograph on Ilford Cotton Rag
1016mm H x 1016mm W
Ed: 3 + 1 AP
Russ Flatt
Survey
2024
Installation view
Russ Flatt
Survey
2024
Installation view
Russ Flatt
Half a Person
2015
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
1016mm H x 1016mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Russ Flatt
Hannah
2016
inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
762mm H x 1143mm W
Ed: 3 + 1 AP
Russ Flatt
Survey
2024
Installation view
Russ Flatt
Survey
2024
Installation view
Russ Flatt
Pania
2022
Inkjet photograph on Ilford Cotton Rag
290mm H x 190mm W
Ed: 20 + 2 AP
Russ Flatt
Aroha mai, Aroha atu
2022
Inkjet photographs on Hahnemühle Photo Rag (diptych)
400mm H x 400mm W (L), 400mm H x 780mm W (R)
Ed: 3 + 1 AP
Russ Flatt
Karamu Traintracks
2022
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
280mm H x 500mm W
Ed: Unique
Russ Flatt
Te Awarua 0 Porirua
2022
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
280mm H x 500mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Russ Flatt
Karamu Reservation
2022
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
280mm H x 500mm W
Ed: Unique
Russ Flatt
Pakowhai
2022
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
280mm H x 500mm W
PRIVATE COLLECTION
Russ Flatt
Omarunui
2022
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
280mm H x 500mm W
MTG NAPIER COLLECTION
Russ Flatt
Otatara Pa
2022
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
280mm H x 500mm W
MTG NAPIER COLLECTION
Russ Flatt
Woolscourers 2
2022
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
280mm H x 500mm W
Ed: Unique
Russ Flatt
Kahikātoa
2022
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemühle Photo Rag
381mm H x 381mm W
Ed: 3 + 1 AP
Russ Flatt
Survey
2024
Installation view
Russ Flatt
Survey
2024
Installation view
Russ Flatt
Epiphany
2018
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemüle Photo Rag
841mm H x 1189mm W
Ed: 3 + 1 AP
Russ Flatt
Epiphany
2018
Inkjet photograph on Hahnemüle Photo Rag
841mm H x 1189mm W
Ed: 3 + 1 AP