Shaun Matthews

Wildness in the Garden of Empire

A proposal for Toi Poneke Gallery
Shaun Matthews
3a Govind Grove
Ngaio
Wellington 6035
Ph: 021 155 1305
E: lunaria@paradise.net.nz
W: www.shaunmatthews.com
Work in progress. Photographic print, 70 x 50 cm. Framed.
Proposed Project
Tis is a proposal for a solo exhibition at Toi Poneke Gallery in the frst half of 2014. I
am currently a fnal year student in the Bachelor of Design (Hons), majoring in Photog-
raphy at Massey University, and I am proposing to exhibit my major project for this year
at the gallery next year. I have over the past three years been involved in three group
exhibitions at Toi Poneke, along with other exhibitions in other venues, and this would
be a great opportunity for me to have my frst major solo exhibition at a venue which
has been instrumental in supporting my career so far.
Te exhibition would be primarily photographic in nature, with approx. 6 photographs
of New Zealands native bush being hung in the front section of the gallery (see over
for work in progress). A video work which is shot while the artist is struggling through
supplejack would be projected in the back section of the gallery (see attached DVD).
Te beginning of European expansion and colonisation to Aotearoa New Zealand in
1769 created a tidal wave of change; the age of enlightenment clashing with Maori cus-
toms, mythology, cultural systems and a coexistence with the ecology of the land. As
Appleton states in Landscape and Experience, landscape is a kind of backcloth to the
whole stage of human activity (Appleton, 1996, p. 2), the history of this land is now
marked by the narratives of both Maori and pakeha. Aotearoa New Zealands natural
environment has been processed into an orderly arrangement, the land lays in neat
rectangles, geometrically disposed like the boundaries of a colonial map, felds, patches
of woodland and meadows are all outcomes of agrarian policies (Warnke, 1994, p. 10).
Opposite to this European cultural heritage, Maori did not need the science of survey-
ing, their boundary markers were not fences, but the world itself; hills, rivers and clifs
all helped discern tribal boundaries.
Te focus for my work is nature itself and the aim is to apply genuine sensitivity to what
remnants remain of the wildness; to somehow revisit the past, but with a foot frmly
placed in the post-colonial present. Even as more land may be given over to conserva-
tion, less funding is becoming available to maintain it. Tis re-discovery will need to
turn into re-enchantment and these sites will be needed to help us regain intimacy with
the land (Park, 1995, p. 332).
Tis project explores landscape as a post-colonial site, documenting the artists journey
to sites of regenerated or original fora within Aotearoa New Zealand. Te intention
is to portray these spaces as natural - not constructed by the human hand. I will do
this by utilising pictorial elements that oppose the conventional scenic viewpoints ofen
adhered to by landscape photographers. Tis approach encompasses framing images
that are much messier than photographic representations of our natural environment
usually are. It also utilises the pictorial device of making the images very pale, placing
the images neither in the past or the present, but somewhere in between.
Tis project is both an continuation of my ongoing fascination with photographic rep-
resentations of the natural environment, and an extension into an area of history that
will also increase my own knowledge of Aotearoa, as a relatively recent immigrant. Te
opportunity to exhibit at Toi Poneke would be a logical progression for me in my jour-
ney to becoming a successful exhibiting artist. As my study comes to an end I plan to
put my energy into opening my work up to a wider audience, and I would very much
like to use this exhibition as a stepping of point for that process. I believe my work will
interest a contemporary audience, as it challenges the roots of contemporary attitudes
to ecology and conservation, and the photographic representation of it. I hope it will
open dialogues with people from these areas of society as well as the art world.
I can be very fexible with dates next year, however would like to avoid an opening in
the last two weeks of April due to existing commitments.
See the next three pages for photographic work in progress, and the attached DVD for
video work in progress. Tis is only a short clip of the proposed full length work, which
would last approximately 5-10 mins, looping.
Appleton, J. (1996). Te Experience of Landscape. West Sussex, London: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
Park, G. (1995). Nga Uruora: Te Groves of Life. Wellington, New Zealand: Victoria University Press.
Warnke, M. (1994). Political Landscape. London: Reaktion Books Ltd.
Work in progress. Photographic print, 70 x 50 cm. Framed.
Work in progress. Photographic print, 70 x 50 cm. Framed.
Work in progress. Photographic print, 70 x 50 cm. Framed. See attached DVD for video work in progress.
Recent Work
Explorations was a book project completed last year. Tis collection of imag-
es began as a simple idea. Its concept was an attempt to reduce our physical
and emotional disconnection from New Zealands natural environment and re-
establish native foras importance and uniqueness. Organic material native to
New Zealand was removed from its original site and was subjectively interpreted
through observation and experiment rather than theory. With awareness of the
importance of plants to New Zealands ecology, this work aims to regain their
visual and individualistic importance. Te work lies not in the botanical, sci-
entifc or the realms of accurate illustration. It attempts to create extensions of
the real, to include the imperfections and frailties of nature and to re-assess our
perception of the fora, and how it is situated within our contemporary techno-
logical culture.
Tere are three sections within the book explorations, each in the form of acts.
Te work is made through camera-less physical actions, each image making a
fresh view, creating a new physical presence connected through subject matter.
Diferent light sources play upon these objects, making each an individual. Reli-
ant on and enhanced by happenstance and accident, these explorations became
a personal journey. Te unpredictability of production, as in the natural world,
becomes integral to the work itself. Light, whether natural sunlight or artifcial-
ly produced, becomes the intermediary both magical and unpredictable. Te
work is neither a botanical reference guide nor a general reference book and so
neither common names nor nomenclature have been applied.
Untitled, from Explorations 2012. Flatbed scan.
Untitled, from Explorations 2012. Direct object photogram in sunlight. Untitled, from Explorations 2012. Direct object photogram in sunlight.
Untitled, from Explorations 2012. Flatbed scan. Untitled, from Explorations 2012. Flatbed scan.
Tis work is the beginning of a series of as yet untitled bromoil photographic
prints, created in 2012. Te images are exploring the increasing need to cre-
ate native bush reserves in order to replace what has been lost. My work has
become ever more concerned with the land that surrounds us and our cultures
restrictions and attempts to replace the original bush, a surrogate that can never
have the greatness and expanse that it once did.
I am becoming ever more interested in the detrimental intrusion of land appro-
priation for industry, amenity, tourism and infrastructure - usually necessary but
ofen thoughtlessly done. Tese images return to the foundation of photography
in the darkroom. From these printed images bromoil prints are produced, which
allows an essential emotional content to emerge from the work. Tis work is an
attempt to remove the distance that causes us to see nature as an object.
Many pictorialist photographers used the bromoil process in the late 18th centu-
ry with the purpose of making photography become accepted within the realms
of art. Te bromoil printing process was invented in 1907, derived from the
combination of a bromide print and pigment oils. Positive gelatin silver prints
of any enlargement can be used for this process, as the ink is applied to the sur-
face of the print itself. Afer printing, the image is bleached in a bath of bichro-
mate solution to remove the silvered image to a pale, latent image. Afer soaking
in pure water and partially drying the print, it is the action of forcing ink into
the gelatin that creates the fnal image; the ink is repelled by more water in the
highlights, where darker tones hold the ink because they are dryer. Contrast and
density can be controlled, emphasis or omission of any part of the print is pos-
sible in the application of the ink and each fnal print is unique. It is this sense of
replacing the essential elements of photography which aligns the printing pro-
cess with the subject matter; light sensitive materials replaced by a surrogate as
the original native bush has been.
Untitled bromoil print, 11 x 14.
Untitled bromoil print, 11 x 14. Untitled bromoil print, 11 x 14.
Previous Exhibitions
Passing By Nature
Passing By Nature was an exhibition held at Blackmore Jean Gallery in Shelley
Bay in October 2010.
In Passing By Nature each work is made up of multiple photographs of city sites.
Tese multiple images help to remove single viewpoint perspective, and when
combined, give a fractured view that shows the uneasy co-existence between
nature and man-made structures in urban and suburban environments.
As populations and cultures grow, cities expand, and economics and our reli-
ance on technology take control, space has become an expensive commodity
and our need to control and dominate our surroundings continues unabated.
As time passes cultures construct and change their landscape, and we become
accustomed to and accept these slow changes that occur. Te photographic
groupings in Passing by Nature do not accept this given viewpoint and in these
deconstructed and disjointed views break up the usually familiar and antici-
pated everyday scenes.
Tese images are individual moments taken as a slower movement of the head
or eyes through each scene, rediscovering that which ofen eludes our recogni-
tion and appreciation. Tis extends our time and experience as we are drawn
closer to create a more intimate involvement. As the images sit on the wall it is
the spaces that create an absence, a place to be flled or an attitude that needs to
be re-examined.

Light & Truth
Light & Truth was a group exhibition at Toi Poneke gallery in 2011, in which I
exhibited alongside Deidra Sullivan and Alastair McAra. All three artists pro-
duced individual pinhole work, and together we turned the back section of the
gallery into a camera obscura.
My work was black and white pinhole images of the Wellington Botanic Gar-
dens contact printed in the darkroom from 5x4 negatives, and then hand tinted
to resemble historic postcards. I was emphasising the constructed nature of
both the Botanic Gardens and the postcard imagery.
Te camera obscura in the back section of the gallery
Biography
I was born in London, UK, in 1961. I worked for 25 years in professional pho-
tographic labs in London, printing other peoples art. Something fantastic hap-
pened to me on my frst visit to New Zealand, I fell in love with the South Island
on a whirlwind tour. While in England I had became interested in horticulture,
and taken a course with the Royal Horticultural Society. I immigrated to New
Zealand in 2002 with a complete change of career in mind related to the great
outdoors. I found the ratio of green belt to city here quite phenomenal; to be
surrounded by nature had such an uplifing feeling. Afer fve years of gardening
in the cold Wellington winters I decided to return to my frst love of photog-
raphy by enrolling in the Diploma in Photography at Massey University. Af-
ter completing the Diploma I continued on into the Bachelor of Design (Hons)
Photography, which I am completing this year.
Artist CV
Diploma in Photography (with distinction)
Massey University 2007-2009
Bachelor of Design (Hons) Photography
Massey University 2010-2013
Exhibitions:
Alt: Contemporary photographers explore alternative processes
A group exhibition showcasing Massey University Photography department
staf and students who make work using alternative photographic processes.
Engine Room, Massey University, Wellington
15th 25th July 2009
Photospace Gallery, Wellington
1st 31st August 2009
UM: Unconscious Minds
A group exhibition featuring fnal year Massey University Diploma of Photog-
raphy students, based on the Surrealist movement.
St. James Teatre, Wellington
24 Sept 01 Oct 2009
Locale
Lynda Garrod, Shaun Matthews & Kirsty Woods
Toi Poneke Gallery, Wellington
22 Jan 12 Feb 2010
Passing By Nature
Solo exhibition
Blackmore Jean Gallery, Wellington
7- 20 Oct 2010
Exposure
Massey University College of Creative Arts graduating exhibition
Massey University, Wellington
Nov 2010
Light & Truth
Alastair MaAra, Shaun Matthews, Deidra Sullivan
Toi Poneke Gallery
28 Jan 18 Feb 2011
Portraits in Pattern: Textiles evoking tattoo
Collaboration between Photography and Textiles students from Massey Uni-
versitys College of Creative Arts
Toi Poneke Gallery
12 27 October 2012
For more examples of previous work please visit my website:
www.shaunmatthews.com