Neil Penman’s photographs of Porirua mark significant moments in the city’s history and honour the legacy of a photographer who believed that ‘every photograph taken today becomes a vital record for the generations of tomorrow’.
Neil Penman’s dedication to photography was rooted in a deep respect for the importance of memory. In his memoir, To Go with the Grain, Penman acknowledges that histories can fade if they aren't actively preserved. Penman’s impulse to record coincided with a period of change in Porirua, which experienced rapid growth from the 1960s through to the early 2000s. Attentive to the city’s development, Penman, a self-taught photographer, dedicated himself to documenting moments of urban transformation as they happened. He photographed the closing of Todd Motors, the changes at the Porirua psychiatric hospital, the construction of North City Plaza in the 1990s, the removal of the Porirua city centre’s canopies in 2015, the housing renewal of Porirua East and the restoration of historic cottages in the early 2000s.
In amongst Penman’s photographs are the people who were there throughout it all, including significant portraits of Ngāti Toa kaumatua. Working in black and white documentary style, he saw photography as a form of social history, preserving the stories of people and places for posterity.
In 2025, Penman’s daughters gifted to Pātaka the majority of their father’s photographic work, which form the basis of this exhibition. Tomorrow’s Histories commemorates Neil Penman’s legacy: a firm belief that a photograph taken today becomes a vital record for the generations of tomorrow.
About the artist:
Neil Penman (1931-2025) was many things: a woodworker, husband, father, an RNZAF officer and longtime Porirua resident. At Pātaka, he is perhaps best remembered as a photographer and social historian. His photographs have been shown in multiple exhibitions at Porirua Museum and Pātaka Art+Museum and his publications, produced together with his wife June Penman, include the iconic Portraits of Porirua (2015), University on the Hill (2015) and To Go with The Grain (2023). His photographic projects over the years include:
1987 People of Porirua
50 Portraits of people contributing to the development of Porirua City
1989 Ngāti Toa
50 portraits at Takapuwāhia Marae
1991 Old Buildings – New Lives
60 studies of local heritage buildings
1992 August Wineera
60 portraits of this well-loved local
1994 Our History, Our Selves
55 Photographs of Pāuatahanui
1994 New Zealand Meat Board
Photograph of leading farming personalities
1996 A Long Goodbye
50 photographs on the closing of the Porirua psychiatric hospital
1997 From the Ground Up
60 photographs of the building of the North City Plaza
1999 In Your Own Back Yard
25 photographs of men pursuing hobbies in backyard sheds
1999 The Chapman Taylor Legacy
50 photographs of Chapman Taylor Homes
2000 School in a Pub
20 images of a potential children’s school
2000 The University on the Hill
Photographs of the closing of Todd Motors
2001 Takapuwāhia Marae
Record of Takapuwāhia Marae
2002 Find Your Own Shoes
Survey of photographs of Porirua
2003 State Houses
State houses in Titahi Bay
2004 People and Places: An Eastside Story
Photographs of Porirua East state housing renewal
2009 Ngāti Toa Kaumatua
76 portraits commissioned by Ngāti Toa
Image: Neil Penman, Ramaari Wineera, c. 1988
