Mongrel Mob Portraits By Jono Rotman – Design You Trust

Mongrel Mob Portraits By Jono Rotman

1

Upstairs at City Gallery is the second presentation of photographer Jono Rotman’s Mongrel Mob portraits. Based in New York, Rotman returns regularly to New Zealand to work on this project, for which he has travelled the country over seven years to visit the homes of over 200 men.

2

Rotman uses traditional portrait conventions and techniques to unsettle expectations of portraiture and the standard media representation of gangs. By doing so, this work questions why we consider certain types of people suitable to hang on a gallery wall in a formal portrait. “Is it glorification because they are good photographs? Should it be that these guys should only be shown in bad photographs or in police mugshots?” Rotman’s portraits offer neither glorification nor caricature. He says, “I hope that viewers are forced to consider each man in person and consider deeply the forces that made him.”

3

Rotman’s portraits were first shown at Auckland’s Gow Langsford Gallery in 2014. City Gallery’s exhibition expands on this selection, and includes unseen work from the original series. It also introduces new pieces which extend Rotman’s engagement with different types of portraiture through which he offers other perspectives on members of the country’s most notorious gang.

4

In 2013, Rotman was awarded the prestigious Marti Friedlander Award for Photography on the basis of his Mongrel Mob photographs. The Award’s namesake, renowned photographer Marti Friedlander says, “The photos of these men moved me to tears. It seems almost as if Rotman has understood something and revealed the person behind the badge without prejudice.”

5

Jono Rotman grew up in Ohariu Valley, Wellington. He studied printmaking in Argentina and photography in Wellington and has exhibited throughout New Zealand and Australia, including in Parallel Worlds, a joint exhibition between the Adam Art Gallery in Wellington and the Centre for Contemporary Photography in Melbourne (2001). Rotman’s work is represented in the Wellington City Council Art Collection, and the Chartwell Collection, Auckland.

6
7
8
9

If you want more awesome content, subscribe to 'Oh, Design You Trust,' our brand new Facebook page! Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

More Inspiring Stories

Photographer Mike Meyers Captures Melancholic Mood Of Chicago In Dark Photos
Candid Vintage Photographs That Show German Soldiers Using Latrines During World War I
Selfies From The Past: Celebrating A Birmingham Community’s Selfies From 40 Years Ago
Rare And Awesome Behind the Scenes Photos of “Star Wars” Special Effects
This Photographer Spent 10 Years Recording The Post-Soviet Discos Of Lithuania
Gisele Bundchen in New Inspiring Photo Session
The Nissan Production Line
Spectacular Winning Photos from The Close-Up Photographer of the Year 2020
Stunning Vintage Photos Of British Football Fans From The 1900s To 1940s
"The Devil's Advocate": Keanu Reeves Photoshoot by Lance Staedler for Premiere Magazine, 1997
Russian Photographer Xenie Zasetskaya Captures Very Exceptional Photo Portraits
The Lost Photos Of Barcelona Give Up Their Secrets
Amazing Behind the Scenes Photos From the Making of ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child’
25 Rare And Cool Polaroid Prints Of Teen Girls In The 1970s
Before And After: How The Russian Army Changes Soldiers
Stunning Photos Of 2021 Natural Landscape Photography Awards
Rainy Saint Petersburg In Photographic Artworks By Eduard Gordeev
"Emotional Struggle": The Melancholic Creepy Self-Portraits of Miroslava Vikhrenko
Cheerful Photos of Teenage Girls in the 1940s
Photographer Makes Incredible Macro Shots Of Insects And Wildlife Creatures
The Ethereal Landscape Photography Of Daniel Kordan
Beautiful Pictures of Female Surfers as They Plunge Beneath the Ocean Waves
Creatures of Jurassic Era
40 Fabulous Photos of Kim Basinger in the 1970s