Book of the Week: HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW by Jamie D. Baird

Art is all around you, and Jamie Baird finds it on the street. For four decades he has walked the streets of Wellington with his camera, capturing both large murals in and small incursions into the urban landscape — from the loud to the quiet, from the subtle to the flashy, from the planned and approved to the furtive and the fleeting. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow is a social commentary and cultural history of one of our most dynamic cities, and in these pages you’ll find political moments and personal messages, through the imagination and talent of street artists and the tenacity of social protest — and through the lens of Jamie Baird. A fascinating book, absolutely packed with images that capture time and place, with a forward by historian Redmer Yska, and superbly designed by Matthew Bartlett. A must for Wellingtonians, past and present, and an excellent gift for anyone interested in politics, visual culture and social history.