Author(s): Jenny O'Connor

Gender & Sexuality

Photographer Jenny O'Connor was born in 1952, the year that the highest number of births was recorded in New Zealand. She, and the women who feature in Visible, are part of the 'baby boom' generation, born in the post-war years between 1946 and 1964. In 2011, as Jenny headed toward her 60th birthday in 2012, she began reflecting on her past and preparing for the future. It led her to wonder how other women nearing this same milestone felt about themselves, how society saw them and what their thoughts about their future were. Jenny's desire to explore these questions was how this book began; by talking to 60 women who were 60 when she took their photograph.

The words are theirs, writing whatever each wanted to say about themselves. "I wanted to give a glimpse into each woman's experience of being 60 now. It's my hope that through their photographs and words you may feel a sense of connection, be moved, surprised, curious, maybe challenged; or just enjoy the images of these special women."

Visible will find a place on the bookshelves of people who love photography, and those interested in a social commentary from some of a generation of women who lived very different lives from their mothers and grandmothers.