Artwork Information

Robin Morrison's 26-year career as an independent photo-journalist reinforced the significance that photography has had on the cultural imagination of New Zealanders. In many published books and articles he represented his chosen subjects using intense effects of colour and available light. Although he was known principally as a result of his passionate studies of rural areas, he was a sophisticated observer of city life. A humanist with an immediate empathy for other people, Morrison had a charm and humour that made him welcome inside the homes of others. Fred and Myrtle Flutey's pāua shell parlour, Bluff is a much-loved icon of New Zealand photography; the Fluteys have become national figures since Morrison published their portrait and have starred in documentaries and product promotions. Their home is a place of pilgrimage for visitors to Bluff, and has become one of the most photographed houses in the nation. The parlour is 'wall-papered' with the polished shells of pāua which were gathered in the straits between Bluff and Rakiura (Stewart Island). Their environment is a folk art masterpiece and Mr Flutey's overalls indicate that the room has been a labour of love for a very handy working man. Robin Morrison's popularity stems in part from the viewing public's recognition that the 'characters' he portrayed are the same figures that New Zealanders recognise to be within the ambit of 'the Kiwi bloke'. (from The Guide, 2001)