Reviews of The Shops
Mark Amery in The Big Idea
Tilly Lloyd on RNZ Nine to Noon
Peter Ireland in Eye Contact
Peter Simpson Best Art Books 2016 - NZ Herald
" Essayist Steve Braunias and photographer Peter Black are both (in Shakespeare's great phrase) 'pickers-up of unconsidered trifles', so the idea (Braunias is publisher as well as author) of putting them together in a book was inspired, while Katrina Duncan's clean unfussy design makes the most of their encounter. Photographer and writer worked independently of each other. Braunias' essay makes no reference to Black or his images and in choosing what to photograph, Black followed his own instincts entirely, yet the two complement each other perfectly. Braunias' essay about his childhood fascination with small-town shops and their messy back doorways is also a moving chapter of autobiography, while Black's photographs of shop windows, signs and shabby exteriors are poignant and curiously uplifting; his use of colour - sometimes sparing, sometimes blatant - is extraordinary."
Mark Amery in The Big Idea
Tilly Lloyd on RNZ Nine to Noon
Peter Ireland in Eye Contact
Peter Simpson Best Art Books 2016 - NZ Herald
" Essayist Steve Braunias and photographer Peter Black are both (in Shakespeare's great phrase) 'pickers-up of unconsidered trifles', so the idea (Braunias is publisher as well as author) of putting them together in a book was inspired, while Katrina Duncan's clean unfussy design makes the most of their encounter. Photographer and writer worked independently of each other. Braunias' essay makes no reference to Black or his images and in choosing what to photograph, Black followed his own instincts entirely, yet the two complement each other perfectly. Braunias' essay about his childhood fascination with small-town shops and their messy back doorways is also a moving chapter of autobiography, while Black's photographs of shop windows, signs and shabby exteriors are poignant and curiously uplifting; his use of colour - sometimes sparing, sometimes blatant - is extraordinary."
