Karakia

Karakia is the seventh title from Melbourne-based publishing house, Bloom. The publication showcases images from New Zealand-born artist Ben Clement alongside his mother, Sallyann Clement’s previously unseen photographic archive.

In early 2015, Bloom travelled with Ben to his family farm in Gisborne, NZ, to meet with his mother. Our time there was spent flipping through her carefully curated albums, whilst listening to stories of her last 30 years shooting. The works selected were taken over a five-year period during the 1980s and follow her travels through New Zealand’s vast national parks, to the cobbled streets of Western Europe.

Sallyann’s timeless images set the tone for her son Ben, whose contemporary images - selected over the same timeline and trace a similar geographical path - share a familiar quality as he follows his mother’s footsteps some 20 years later.