Laurence Aberhart

b. 1949, Auckland
Lives in Northland, New Zealand

Laurence Aberhart is recognised as one of New Zealand’s most important protagonists of photography. His crisp and distinctive images have captured and highlighted important aspects of New Zealand cultural history since the 1970s.

Born in Nelson, Aberhart has been based in Russell, Northland since the early 1980s. He held his first solo exhibition at the Peter McLeavey Gallery, Wellington, in 1978. Since then, he has exhibited regularly in Wellington, Auckland, Sydney, Hong Kong, Los Angeles and various cities across Europe. A solo exhibition of his work was held at the Stedelijik Museum Amsterdam in 2002, alongside the much-lauded exhibition, Colin McCahon: A Question of Faith.

Aberhart has created numerous scenes of rural buildings and landscapes, along with a number of considered portraits. He has a distinctive way of working with the medium, capturing light and composing images in a crisp and immediately recognisable way. Curator Gregory O'Brien has stated, “Aberhart's images are bathed in the light of photographic history, as well as that of the world around. In his exquisite prints, photography reclaims a magic often lost in the digital age.” His depth of understanding of the medium has enabled him to produce numerous iconic images of the New Zealand landscape that speak to the essence of the environment.

Now in his seventies, Aberhart continues to create contemporary photographs through a historical lens. His mastery of photographic media is evident in the balance of compositional precision and atmospheric quality of his distinctive works.

Aberhart has received several Art Council of New Zealand awards, a Fulbright Travel Grant (USA, 1988), a Fulbright Research Fellowship (USA, 2010) and a Moet et Chandon Fellowship in France (1994). He was the recipient of an Arts Foundation Award in 2013. A survey of his work was shown at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia, in 2005, and in 2022 the Whangarei Art Museum heldWhare Tapu Taonga, a survey of Aberhart's Northland church series. His works continue to attract international attention, affirming him as an important and influential figure within the art world.

Gow Langsford Gallery has represented Laurence Aberhart since 2014.