Golden South

What is it?

Golden South is a photobook written and photographed by Nic Bishop. The work explores an archive of Nic's mountaineering and wilderness experiences from the South Island during the 1980s.

In 2018, I reached out to Nic with the idea to publish his work as a contemporary photobook. Three years later and we are ready to close this chapter.

Why crowdfund?

The book is a hand-bound and sewn, physically delightful specimen. As a quality-focused product, each book costs quite considerably more than those found on commercial shelves. For this reason, I am reaching out to the public in hopes to finance and finalise the production of Golden South.

Why is it important?

Golden South is an acknowledgement of a diminishing wilderness. Ecologists often rely on 30-year windows to adequately measure change in an environment. The images and stories shared by Nic strengthen a conservational perspective, capturing precious moments in an elusive landscape increasingly marked by the residues of industry.

Get in touch!

Please ask for more details should you be interested. I would be more than happy to tell you all about it, and address any particulars you may come up with! I have had two sample books made to give an idea of what this thing will tangibly look like.

Financing

In terms of where money is going, a detailed break down follows:

$3000 raised for the production of 30 books. Each book costs approximately $90 to produce. They will retail for $100. The additional $10 margin will be absorbed by packaging, shipping, marketing, and various other administrative fees and costs.

I intend on retaining 3 of the 30 copies for myself and Nic, and 2 copies for the National Library in Wellington, New Zealand.

Should 25 of these books sell, a profit of $2500, $1500 will be attributed as back payment of the various associated costs this project has accumulated over the last 3 years. Such costs include production of samples, attendance of workshops, flights for a meeting, and various other administrative overheads like publishing software licenses, etc. The remaining $1000 profit will then be utilised as a boost for the next book project, and further my goal towards a self-sustaining career in the arts practice.

And with that - thank you! Again, please do get in touch and I look forward to your support.

- Jake