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HANNAH WATKINSON – like oil and water – 18 July-11 August 2023

Estuary, by Hannah Watkinson, 2014, c-type photographic print on platine fibre rag, 610 x 1125 framed

 

It’s Saturday evening in the fish and chip shop on the main drag. It’s absolutely pissing down in the way that the skies west of the Main Divide only seem to know how. Eight men sit on benches, waiting to collect their deep-fried feed. “Good for the rain tanks but not much else,” says one of them, to no one in particular. The others in the room solemnly nod.

At Tip Head, brown water from the Buller River (in Māori, Kawatiri, meaning ‘deep and swift’) meets the raging Tasman Sea. The river carries a greater torrent in flood than any other New Zealand river. Built of granite boulders quarried further south along the coast at Cape Foulwind, the banks of the river were artificially extended around 1888 to create a pair of breakwaters, with another 100 metres added in 1966. Sometimes, the Buller has other ideas than to follow the channel that was created for it.

Like oil and water explores the relationship between active waterways in Te Waipounamu (rivers, estuaries, and coastline) and the built environments that border them. Composed with reference to European Renaissance painting, these juxtapositions interrogate the narrative of urban planning by predominantly coloniser’s hands in our vulnerable landscapes. The photographs contemplate examples, often overt but occasionally subtle, of nature staying the course, impacting the future of preordained settlements and infrastructure.

The immiscible character of tangata Tiriti’s view of land ownership alongside Te Ao Māori’s concept of Papatūānuku is considered through quiet contemplation of built and natural elements coexisting, teetering on the precipice of overwhelm. Layers of socio-political history, remnants of previous existence, and the evolution of earth, sea, and sky fight for prominence.

Enquire about these works

Avon, by Hannah Watkinson, 2021, c-type photographic print on platine fibre rag, 620 x 780mm framed Charleston, by Hannah Watkinson, 2020, c-type photographic print on platine fibre rag, 620 x 780mm framed Carters, by Hannah Watkinson, 2020, c-type photographic print on platine fibre rag, 620 x 780mm framed Grey, by Hannah Watkinson, 2015, c-type photographic print on platine fibre rag, 620 x 780mm framed Brunner, by Hannah Watkinson, 2015, c-type photographic print on platine fibre rag, 620 x 780mm framed Buller, by Hannah Watkinson, 2020, c-type photographic print on platine fibre rag, 620 x 780mm framed Granity, by Hannah Watkinson, 2020, c-type photographic print on platine fibre rag, 620 x 780mm framed

Hannah Watkinson‘s photographic practice considers fine art and documentary genres, attempting to communicate the psychological landscape and social-political environment of place through images.

“Watkinson has respectfully captured moments of beauty, of humour and the everyday, that speak volumes of this place without claiming it and that allow for subjectivity and agency. […] Watkinson’s photographs are often taken in out of the way places, near to or adjacent with their subject. These are quiet places, literally entry points or thresholds. Watkinson is thus similarly making signs that point towards features and futures we might otherwise overlook, encouraging us to slow down and contemplate the next moment, that which is just out of frame.”
-Melanie Oliver

She is based in Ōtautahi Christchurch and completed her Master’s degree in 2021 at Ilam School of Fine Arts. Watkinson’s photographs have been acquired by the University of Canterbury’s art collection through a SELECT award, as well as sold to private collections. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including notably a Grant Lingard Scholarship in 2015 and an Ethel Susan Jones Travelling Scholarship in 2016, to extend her studies by exploring industry being represented by artists in Europe.

Watkinson’s work has been exhibited across Aotearoa, including most recently a solo exhibition at CoCA Toi Moroki in 2021. She also published a book titled The Near Future in 2021, a study of the Buller region drawing on a decade of research and photographic archive.

Writing
Art New Zealand – photographic essay feature in edition number 184
Art and the Environment in Photobooks – Mary Macpherson for Landfall Online
The Near Future reviewed – Melanie Oliver for Photoforum
The Near Future reviewed – Peter Ireland for EyeContact
Scenicland: Photography in the West Coast region – Caroline McQuarrie for Photoforum