Dad Pete Opa
4.10. 2022
Tim J. Veling
Exhibition Opening
On the 4th of November 2022, starting at 6 pm, XYZ Books associates itself with the Photography Festival Imago Lisboa for the book launch and opening of the pop-up exhibition "Dad Pete Opa", by New Zealand photographer
Tim J. Veling, at a ilha gallery space.
This edition of the book is the result of the 2nd XYZ Books Residency Cycle, with the design
collaboration by Joana Durães.
The residency, exhibition and book were made possible thanks to the Institutional Partners: República Portuguesa, DGArtes, Creative New Zealand Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa and University of Canterbury.
Presale with a special discount available only until the launch day. Available online here.
Dad Pete Opa
“I have been admitted to hospital. Please don’t worry, but call me when you can. Lots of love, D,P,O.”
It was always how he signed off; shorthand for Dad, Pete, Opa. Tim J. Veling would soon learn his father had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer with an estimated three months to live. The rug was suddenly pulled out from under his feet.
D,P,O is a record of those last, precious months. The photographs are testament to not only the grief that father and son worked through together, but more importantly the love and admiration they shared; an account of the inevitable slowing of one life set to a backdrop of a new life and relationships thriving. Intensely moving in its unflinching intimacy and honesty, D,P,O reminds us that while death comes to us all, we must live in the present and treasure deeply the company of people we hold dear. For within those that remain, love and life endure.
Tim J. Veling
Tim J. Veling (New Zealand) is a photographer and Senior Lecturer in Photography at the Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. He is also the director of “Place in Time: The Christchurch Documentary Project.” Some of his recent exhibitions include “Things That Shape Us”, curated by Melanie Oliver for Christchurch Art Gallery 2021; “All That Was Solid Melts”, curated by Juliana Engberg for Auckland Art Gallery 2021; “Together Alone”, curated by Allan McDonald for the Auckland Festival of Photography 2021; “Vestiges”, a solo exhibition at CoCA, Christchurch 2018; “The Hive Hums With Many Minds”, curated by Bruce Phillips for Te Tuhi, Auckland 2016, and THX 4 THE MEMORIES, Christchurch Arts Festival 2013. He was 2012 Sapporo Artist In Residence, funded by Asia New Zealand and Creative New Zealand. He was the keynote speaker at the first Photobook New Zealand Festival, Wellington 2016, held at Massey University.
He lives and works in Christchurch, New Zealand.