This 2016 exhibition is a series of work inspired by the heritage and history of Dunedin architecture. By referencing elements of restrained realism and the cityscape displaced, we can explore well-known but little-regarded facades that we see often but seldom notice.

The buildings are staged alone, devoid of people, cars and street furniture, reinforcing the sense of illusion produced by the flattened panoramic format.

The paintings are in acrylic on unframed, gessoed and battened plywood panels. I used archival images and contemporary photographs for reference allowing features of different decades to coincide, conjuring a prospect that can never be seen in reality but contains the familiar and the forgotten, allowing the viewer to engage with a subject which evokes memories and a feeling of place.

I grew up in Dunedin and loved the imposing colonial grandeur of the town.  Returning after a lengthy period abroad, I was dismayed to find many iconic buildings replaced by charmless nondescript structures.  In 2012 I enrolled at the Otago Polytechnic to study for a Bachelor of Visual Arts.

Since graduating, I have used my artwork to highlight the inestimable value of the remaining street frontages of Dunedin.

Otago Daily Times Art Seen Review - LINK