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manifestations of the coup itself. Eventually, I was
led to an Indian Fijian sugar cane farmer, Dharmen
Kumar, and his family who welcomed me. I travelled
backwards and forwards to Vatiyaka, their village in
Fiji,forsevenyears,andlaunchedStopoverinthefront
yard of their corrugated-iron home in the middle of a
sugar cane field. Dharmen became my social secretary
amongst his extended family of sugar cane cutters. He
would say next time you come you must photograph
my uncle and his wife, or whoever in the extended
family. I would photograph the men in the field and
with their families at home. I kept a diary of ordinary
things that happened each day, simple strands of
life, which became part of the book. Of course, over
years you form relationships of integrity and respect
with the extended family, and as time goes on you
learn more, understand more, and sometimes, as with
all extended families, you become aware of matters
that may have caused upset. It is never my place to
judge. I am a guest. Not once in those years was a bad
word said to me. I felt gladly received always; they
were upstanding people making a small living under
difficult political circumstances, intent on a future for
their children. I just hung out, and would go where
invited. By the end of that project, I figured that my
emotional energy was spent, theirs too probably, I
needed to rethink how I wanted to proceed with my
discipline. Stopover overlapped with a new approach
I adopted with my first surveillance artist book I Saw
You (2007).(left) BRUCE CONNEW Stopover #40: Vatiyaka, Fiji 2001
Silver gelatin photograph, 236 x 160 mm.
(below) BRUCE CONNEW Beyond the Pale #22: Evan Griffiths & Tony
Bane, Escarpment Mine, Denniston 1981
Silver gelatin photograph, 160 x 236 mm.
(opposite) BRUCE CONNEW
South Africa #23 Front yard, Soweto July 1985
Silver gelatin photograph, 160 x 236 mm.