Loading Docs 2016 - The Colourist

Web (Full Length) – 2016

Scenic vistas of Aotearoa have become an important part of New Zealand identity. Hand-coloured photos produced by Whites Aviation from 1945 were formative in the genre, and hugely popular after WWll. This 2016 Loading Doc profiles 'colouring girl' Grace Rawson, now 83, who uses cotton wool and brushes to demonstrate the meticulous process behind colouring the images. The short was co-directed by artist and commercials director Greg Wood, and author Peter Alsop (Selling the Dream), whose book on the photos, Hand-Coloured New Zealand, was published in 2016.

The Colourist pays tribute to a woman whose contribution to both New Zealand’s art and its history is largely unknown. It’s also a celebration of a meticulous hand-applied craft, rendered virtually obsolete in a world obsessed by the immediacy of the digital image.
– Directors Greg Wood and Peter Alsop