Kink: A Portrait Exhibition

By Antony Kitchener

PledgeMe.Project

Photography,



NZ $2,670 pledged


32 people pledged


Closed


NZ $2,500 minimum target


100 100% Complete

This campaign was successful and closed on 08/07/2016 at 12:00 AM.

Make a Pledge

About

Kink: A Portrait Exhibition

Project 2016-06-05 22:28:07 +1200

Help me to exhibit 12 portraits in Melbourne’s Brunswick Street Gallery.

If you feel you can handle four-and-a-half minutes of charm and charisma, please click the Play button to see a video about the project (and more of the portraits). Alternatively you can simply read the text below!

Important note. When pledging you will be asked for your credit card details. The funds you wish to pledge will only be deducted from your card if we reach the goal of $2500 by the 7th July 2016. If we do not reach the funding goal the project will not go ahead and your card will not be charged.

Who am I

Hi guys. My name is Antony Kitchener. I am a professional photographer, based in Wellington.

I am passionate about portraiture and documentary photography. I love creating visual stories that focus on social, cultural and environmental themes.

Over the past six years I have worked on a number of personal documentary projects: from documenting issues of homelessness and marginalisation at Wellington’s Compassion Centre Soup Kitchen, to local Clown Doctors at work at Wellington Children’s Hospital. This particular project was a finalist in the 2014 New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year competition.

Clown Doctors

As a documentary photographer, I have an interest in photographing sub-cultures and people who belong to distinct communities. Sharing their personal stories through photography can challenge perceptions and preconceived ideas, promote public discourse, or simply raise awareness of a contemporary topic or an under-represented community.

Soup Kitchen - Joe

The Project

I need your help to fund the exhibition of a series of 12 portraits at Brunswick Street Gallery in Melbourne.

Over the past three years or so, I have been working on a series of subtle, stylised portraits of Wellington’s BDSM community. BDSM is about more than just kinky sex. It is about identity, acceptance, trust, openness and honesty. Most of all it is about community.

For me this project was about exploring each individual’s story. 

Kink 1

When I first began this project more than three years ago I was very unsure of what to expect from the people I was to photograph. However I was soon blown-away by the openness, trust, honesty and genuine humility that people within this community shared with me. If you are different, be it physically, emotionally or psychologically, or in your choices, tastes, behaviour or desires, breaking the mould imposed by contemporary social norms can be challenging. Many of the people I met through this project have been totally amazing, open and courageous individuals: they showed great strength of character; of knowing themselves; and of being comfortable with who they are, while living aspects of their lives going against the grain.

Kink 2

The Pitch

Now, initially I had planned to exhibit this work in Wellington, local to the community involved. However, unlike the BDSM community, Wellington’s art industry does not appear to be as open and accepting as I had originally hoped. I have approached a number of galleries in Wellington but all have declined to exhibit these images for various reasons, which is why I decided to look further afield. Melbourne’s Brunswick Street Gallery has offered to host the exhibition of these portraits from the 14-27 October.

I need your help to fund the printing and exhibition costs.

Kink 3

I need to raise a total of $2500 to cover:

  • the costs of renting the exhibition space for two weeks - $900

  • for printing 12 A2-sized portraits - $700

  • a return flight to Melbourne as I have to be there to set up the exhibition - $400

  • Plus $500 to cover the costs of producing the rewards and PledgeMe's fees.

For making a pledge, I am offering a variety of rewards from:

  • having your name listed on a plaque as a supporter of the exhibition

  • or photographic quality A4 and A3 sized prints of any of the images from my website – such as this one - printed on to German photorag paper by The Big Picture. Please visit www.antonykitchener.com and have a look at my work.

  • And finally, for those feeling particularly generous (and for those living in or near Wellington), I am offering a portrait session using a Sinar F2 large-format film camera (think photographer hiding under a black cloth) and hand-developed 4”x5” black and white film.

 

So you’ll get a portrait like this:

Frankie

Using a camera like this:

Sinar F2

So if you believe in the value of diversity and freedom of expression, please support my campaign and help me to promote the universal language of openness, honesty and acceptance, by enabling these portraits to be exhibited.

If you've managed to read this far, thank you for your support.

Comments

Updates 9

The Final Post

12/11/2016 at 11:10 AM

Hi Everyone,

I forgot to update PledgeMe about the exhibition (which has now been and gone), which was afterall, the end result of this crowdfunding campaign. Anyway, long story short, the exhibition went very well and you can see more about the exhibition and the full project images on Wordpress here: https://antonykitchener.wordpress.com/

Thanks for all your support.

 

Over and out!

Antony

Penultimate Pledge

06/10/2016 at 9:55 PM

Hi folks,

Just a quick update as to where things are at: We're now one week away for the big exhibition. The prints are now well packed for their maidan voyage to Melbourne (bloody heavy but hopefully they weigh less than 23 Kg!) and I'm frantically trying to get all the written material completed.

I've also complete the second-to-last pledge reward. This was a portrait session using a large format camera and shot using B&W film. Sadly I forgot to take any images of the shoot (if you're interested, Google 'Sinar F2' to find out more about the camera I'm using) but below are the portraits taken with the camera along with some pics of the film fresh from the development tank. Cheers

Out of the development tank...

Sneak Peek

09/08/2016 at 9:46 PM

Hi folks.

Just a quick update before I bugger off to the UK for three weeks to visit the Fam, thought you might be interested in this:

The prints you helped create. Big prints rule!

Antony

Rewards........

29/07/2016 at 8:24 PM

..........coming to a house near you.......

For all of y'all who made pledges with photographic prints as a reward.......they're on their way to you very soon......

Rewards

Exhibition Test Print

24/07/2016 at 2:36 PM

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick update to show you all the test print I have had made by Image Lab. All of the exhibition images have been collaged together and printed onto A1-sized aluminium composite material. They look pretty awesome to me:

Exhibition Test Print

Now i've seen the test print I'm really sold on the idea of printing the exhibition images A1-size rather than A2. It might make it a tight squeeze in the exhibition space but I think the images will really stand out being large prints!

Woohoo - We Made it!

06/07/2016 at 11:03 PM

Hi folks,

Just thought y'all should know that, with 24 hours remaining in the campaign, I have achieved the funding goal, and the exhibition plans are now full-steam-ahead.

A gigantic, humongous THANK YOU to you all for supporting my PledgeMe campaign.

Gracias. Merci. Grazie. Arigato. do jeh. Danke sehr. Khop Khun Mak Kha. Takk. Dziekuje.

I will be providing updates on the exhibitions progress over the coming weeks, including printing of the images and fulfilling all of your rewards.

I will most likely be providing updates via the PledgeMe campaign site, so do check-in from time-to-time to see how things are going.

https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/4660-kink-a-portrait-exhibition

 
Once again, many thanks for all of your wonderful support.

Cheers

Antony

Nearly there.......

04/07/2016 at 9:54 PM

Hello everyone,

Only three days left to go and I've almost made my funding goal thanks to YOU. A BIG SHOUT OUT to all of you wonderful peeps out there who have made pledges so far and are making this happen. I can't believe this exhibition is actually going become a reality.

Many thanks.

Antony

Twelve Days to Go

26/06/2016 at 11:25 AM

Twelve days left and we are nearly at the goal. I can't quite believe this actually may happen. Thanks to you. A big thanks again to everyone who has pledge so far.

Now it is looking like the exhibition will go ahead, I have lots of prep work to be getting on with such as editing the images, writing the image captions and exhibition blurb, and writing the definitions which will be interspersed amongst the portraits to help tell the story.

I'll keep you updated as things progress. Thank you all once again.

Cheers
Antony

Halfway there

15/06/2016 at 9:27 PM

You guys (and girls!) are awseome. The campaign has only been running for 6 days now and we're half way to the goal of $2500.

Big thanks to all who have pledge so far. You are awesome. And a big shout out to all those who are in the process of, thinking about, contemplating or pondering about making a pledge. There's still plenty of time left.

Thank you all.

Antony

    Pledgers 32

    Matthew Mawkes
    11/06/2016 at 12:58pm

    "Good luck Antony!"

    Mark Willis
    11/06/2016 at 11:46am

    "An outstanding photographer with a great vision and talent!"

    Followers 6

    Followers of Kink: A Portrait Exhibition

    Kink: A Portrait Exhibition

    Project 2016-06-05 22:28:07 +1200

    Help me to exhibit 12 portraits in Melbourne’s Brunswick Street Gallery.

    If you feel you can handle four-and-a-half minutes of charm and charisma, please click the Play button to see a video about the project (and more of the portraits). Alternatively you can simply read the text below!

    Important note. When pledging you will be asked for your credit card details. The funds you wish to pledge will only be deducted from your card if we reach the goal of $2500 by the 7th July 2016. If we do not reach the funding goal the project will not go ahead and your card will not be charged.

    Who am I

    Hi guys. My name is Antony Kitchener. I am a professional photographer, based in Wellington.

    I am passionate about portraiture and documentary photography. I love creating visual stories that focus on social, cultural and environmental themes.

    Over the past six years I have worked on a number of personal documentary projects: from documenting issues of homelessness and marginalisation at Wellington’s Compassion Centre Soup Kitchen, to local Clown Doctors at work at Wellington Children’s Hospital. This particular project was a finalist in the 2014 New Zealand Geographic Photographer of the Year competition.

    Clown Doctors

    As a documentary photographer, I have an interest in photographing sub-cultures and people who belong to distinct communities. Sharing their personal stories through photography can challenge perceptions and preconceived ideas, promote public discourse, or simply raise awareness of a contemporary topic or an under-represented community.

    Soup Kitchen - Joe

    The Project

    I need your help to fund the exhibition of a series of 12 portraits at Brunswick Street Gallery in Melbourne.

    Over the past three years or so, I have been working on a series of subtle, stylised portraits of Wellington’s BDSM community. BDSM is about more than just kinky sex. It is about identity, acceptance, trust, openness and honesty. Most of all it is about community.

    For me this project was about exploring each individual’s story. 

    Kink 1

    When I first began this project more than three years ago I was very unsure of what to expect from the people I was to photograph. However I was soon blown-away by the openness, trust, honesty and genuine humility that people within this community shared with me. If you are different, be it physically, emotionally or psychologically, or in your choices, tastes, behaviour or desires, breaking the mould imposed by contemporary social norms can be challenging. Many of the people I met through this project have been totally amazing, open and courageous individuals: they showed great strength of character; of knowing themselves; and of being comfortable with who they are, while living aspects of their lives going against the grain.

    Kink 2

    The Pitch

    Now, initially I had planned to exhibit this work in Wellington, local to the community involved. However, unlike the BDSM community, Wellington’s art industry does not appear to be as open and accepting as I had originally hoped. I have approached a number of galleries in Wellington but all have declined to exhibit these images for various reasons, which is why I decided to look further afield. Melbourne’s Brunswick Street Gallery has offered to host the exhibition of these portraits from the 14-27 October.

    I need your help to fund the printing and exhibition costs.

    Kink 3

    I need to raise a total of $2500 to cover:

    • the costs of renting the exhibition space for two weeks - $900

    • for printing 12 A2-sized portraits - $700

    • a return flight to Melbourne as I have to be there to set up the exhibition - $400

    • Plus $500 to cover the costs of producing the rewards and PledgeMe's fees.

    For making a pledge, I am offering a variety of rewards from:

    • having your name listed on a plaque as a supporter of the exhibition

    • or photographic quality A4 and A3 sized prints of any of the images from my website – such as this one - printed on to German photorag paper by The Big Picture. Please visit www.antonykitchener.com and have a look at my work.

    • And finally, for those feeling particularly generous (and for those living in or near Wellington), I am offering a portrait session using a Sinar F2 large-format film camera (think photographer hiding under a black cloth) and hand-developed 4”x5” black and white film.

     

    So you’ll get a portrait like this:

    Frankie

    Using a camera like this:

    Sinar F2

    So if you believe in the value of diversity and freedom of expression, please support my campaign and help me to promote the universal language of openness, honesty and acceptance, by enabling these portraits to be exhibited.

    If you've managed to read this far, thank you for your support.

    Comments

    The Final Post

    12/11/2016 at 11:10 AM

    Hi Everyone,

    I forgot to update PledgeMe about the exhibition (which has now been and gone), which was afterall, the end result of this crowdfunding campaign. Anyway, long story short, the exhibition went very well and you can see more about the exhibition and the full project images on Wordpress here: https://antonykitchener.wordpress.com/

    Thanks for all your support.

     

    Over and out!

    Antony

    Penultimate Pledge

    06/10/2016 at 9:55 PM

    Hi folks,

    Just a quick update as to where things are at: We're now one week away for the big exhibition. The prints are now well packed for their maidan voyage to Melbourne (bloody heavy but hopefully they weigh less than 23 Kg!) and I'm frantically trying to get all the written material completed.

    I've also complete the second-to-last pledge reward. This was a portrait session using a large format camera and shot using B&W film. Sadly I forgot to take any images of the shoot (if you're interested, Google 'Sinar F2' to find out more about the camera I'm using) but below are the portraits taken with the camera along with some pics of the film fresh from the development tank. Cheers

    Out of the development tank...

    Sneak Peek

    09/08/2016 at 9:46 PM

    Hi folks.

    Just a quick update before I bugger off to the UK for three weeks to visit the Fam, thought you might be interested in this:

    The prints you helped create. Big prints rule!

    Antony

    Rewards........

    29/07/2016 at 8:24 PM

    ..........coming to a house near you.......

    For all of y'all who made pledges with photographic prints as a reward.......they're on their way to you very soon......

    Rewards

    Exhibition Test Print

    24/07/2016 at 2:36 PM

    Hi Everyone,

    Just a quick update to show you all the test print I have had made by Image Lab. All of the exhibition images have been collaged together and printed onto A1-sized aluminium composite material. They look pretty awesome to me:

    Exhibition Test Print

    Now i've seen the test print I'm really sold on the idea of printing the exhibition images A1-size rather than A2. It might make it a tight squeeze in the exhibition space but I think the images will really stand out being large prints!

    Woohoo - We Made it!

    06/07/2016 at 11:03 PM

    Hi folks,

    Just thought y'all should know that, with 24 hours remaining in the campaign, I have achieved the funding goal, and the exhibition plans are now full-steam-ahead.

    A gigantic, humongous THANK YOU to you all for supporting my PledgeMe campaign.

    Gracias. Merci. Grazie. Arigato. do jeh. Danke sehr. Khop Khun Mak Kha. Takk. Dziekuje.

    I will be providing updates on the exhibitions progress over the coming weeks, including printing of the images and fulfilling all of your rewards.

    I will most likely be providing updates via the PledgeMe campaign site, so do check-in from time-to-time to see how things are going.

    https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/projects/4660-kink-a-portrait-exhibition

     
    Once again, many thanks for all of your wonderful support.

    Cheers

    Antony

    Nearly there.......

    04/07/2016 at 9:54 PM

    Hello everyone,

    Only three days left to go and I've almost made my funding goal thanks to YOU. A BIG SHOUT OUT to all of you wonderful peeps out there who have made pledges so far and are making this happen. I can't believe this exhibition is actually going become a reality.

    Many thanks.

    Antony

    Twelve Days to Go

    26/06/2016 at 11:25 AM

    Twelve days left and we are nearly at the goal. I can't quite believe this actually may happen. Thanks to you. A big thanks again to everyone who has pledge so far.

    Now it is looking like the exhibition will go ahead, I have lots of prep work to be getting on with such as editing the images, writing the image captions and exhibition blurb, and writing the definitions which will be interspersed amongst the portraits to help tell the story.

    I'll keep you updated as things progress. Thank you all once again.

    Cheers
    Antony

    Halfway there

    15/06/2016 at 9:27 PM

    You guys (and girls!) are awseome. The campaign has only been running for 6 days now and we're half way to the goal of $2500.

    Big thanks to all who have pledge so far. You are awesome. And a big shout out to all those who are in the process of, thinking about, contemplating or pondering about making a pledge. There's still plenty of time left.

    Thank you all.

    Antony

      Matthew Mawkes
      11/06/2016 at 12:58pm

      "Good luck Antony!"

      Mark Willis
      11/06/2016 at 11:46am

      "An outstanding photographer with a great vision and talent!"

      Followers of Kink: A Portrait Exhibition

      This campaign was successful and got its funding on 08/07/2016 at 12:00 AM.