Jellicoe & Bledisloe
David Cook
When David Cook moved to Hamilton East, he was drawn to the colourful and creative lives of his neighbours. With camera in hand, he explored everything from front-yard mechanics to Sunday roasts, creating an intimate documentary of a State Housing suburb in the 1990s, moments before gentrification set in. In this energetic photobook, we look back twenty-five years to see burgeoning issues of relevance today: housing, bi-cultural relations, social welfare, and freshwater quality, all brought to us through the lens of daily life.
The title, Jellicoe & Bledisloe, is a reference to the local street names, commemorating New Zealand Governors General from the early twentieth century. Reflecting on this colonial heritage, Cook writes an engaging first-person account of the suburb, featuring a conversation with Ngaati Wairere historian Wiremu Puke. Together they unearth suppressed histories and rewrite our understanding of the Waikato landscape.
Te Papa Tongarewa holds a significant collection of photographs from this series. The work is also featured in an exhibition Jellicoe & Bledisloe: Hamilton in the 90s – David Cook at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery / Te Pūkenga Whakaata, Wellington (24 Feb – 15 May 2022).
David Cook’s photo-documentaries deal with communities in transition. Publications include Lake of Coal: the Disappearance of a Mining Township (finalist in the 2007 Montana New Zealand Book Awards), Meet me in the Square: Christchurch 1983-1987 (winner of the 2015 MAPDA Exhibition Catalogue Award – major) and River Road: Journeys through Ecology.
David Cook interviewed by Lynn Freeman in Standing Room Only
RRP $50.00
hardback | 108 pages
245 x 200 mm
ISBN 978-0-9951184-8-5
Publication: February 2022
Design: Sam Fraser and David Cook
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from the Jellicoe & Bledisloe series by David Cook. 1993 – 1997 
from the Jellicoe & Bledisloe series by David Cook. 1993 – 1997 
from the Jellicoe & Bledisloe series by David Cook. 1993 – 1997 
from the Jellicoe & Bledisloe series by David Cook. 1993 – 1997 
from the Jellicoe & Bledisloe series by David Cook. 1993 – 1997 
from the Jellicoe & Bledisloe series by David Cook. 1993 – 1997 
from the Jellicoe & Bledisloe series by David Cook. 1993 – 1997 
from the Jellicoe & Bledisloe series by David Cook. 1993 – 1997 
from the Jellicoe & Bledisloe series by David Cook. 1993 – 1997 
from the Jellicoe & Bledisloe series by David Cook. 1993 – 1997 
from the Jellicoe & Bledisloe series by David Cook. 1993 – 1997