Wellington-based artist Peter Black (born 1948) grew up in Lower Hutt, enrolling in the 1975 pilot photography course at the Wellington Polytechnic. One of New Zealand’s most important contemporary photographers, he was the first photographer to have a solo show at the National Gallery (now Te Papa) in 1980, and in 2003, a major retrospective of his work was held at City Gallery. In 2007, Te Papa bought 129 of his photographs, adding to his work already in their Collection.

A rarity among photographers, Black still develops his own black and white film and makes his own silver gelatin prints. His more recent work has incorporated vibrant colour, and some of his most significant work expresses his particular interest in Wellington City.

Arts practitioner Gregory O’Brien describes Black’s photographs as insisting on a close proximity between the 'fictional' and 'real,' – his photographs are images of the real world, but are also a compendium of selected fictions, that make a ”30-year-long plot-less narrative”. Black’s work often encapsulates ‘sadness and humour, and the gentle madness that prevails in people, as he depicts ambiguous and unreal situations that involve real people.' We recognise glimpses of places and people that are at once familiar and strange, and imagine the characters that inhabit his works.