the exhibition

Now, i still want everyone to actualy come and see the exhibitions that I have on and coming up, but here is a shot of the current show on in Hamilton right now...
Also an article in the Hamilton Press about it in last weeks paper...

Mia and I

This is a photo my sister took of my Niece Mia and I on Christmas day.

I like it, so I'm posting it. I had a new niece born on Saturday, Jessie Rose Edwards. I havn't met her yet, but I'll try to go and see her in the next few weeks.. she is my 8th neice and nephew. Mia is my eldest niece.

i stand i float

i stand
at the edge of this earth
and see
the ocean staring back at me
its power
its secrets
the lands galaxy
it has been since the beginning
of time
if only its secrets i could
hear
i dive
the ocean engulfs me
embracing
its power all over me
oh tell me what you know
take me
where you have been
for here I am
at home
i float


I wrote this poem about my feelings as I stood on the edge of Te Toto Gorge about a year ago. An amazing place to go, despite it being the scene of a nasty crime recently. The image that I took while I was there was destined to go into my current series of work that opens tomorrow, it made it to the final edit, and into the darkroom, where it then edited it self out as I couldn't get it to print how I wanted it to no matter how many hours I tried. I'll print it one day though, as I love this image and I love this place.

the dark room meditation

counting mumbling
christmas away
a meditation in the dark
orange light
waiting for the picture to appear
hoping praying
for perfection
counting away moments
concrete floor
& that evocative smell
of memories in the dark
time counted out loud
as a prayer
no
a spell
evoking my snapshot memory
to remember that moment
onto this paper
a spell
while christmas disappears

small towns

I live in a small town, and for those of you who havn't done that before, it's not hard to get to know people and in turn to be known. In fact, that is one of the reasons I was so keen to leave the small town I grew up in and move to Wellington, especialy after a little embarrsing episode of being the kiwifruit queen. But has fate would have it, here I am living in an even smaller town than before, and loving it by the way. Anyhow, my latest set of work 'Whaingaroa' is based on this small town, and for sure that is going to cause a bit of a stir, so this was in todays paper in little old Raglan
(click on the pic to make it readable)
And not long after that came out today, while I was sitting in my three day a week job and listening to the local radio station I heard the phone ringing on the radio... and also ringing in front of me at the same time... now THAT is something to be concerned about, so I think, should I answer it?! I leave it ringing, then eventualy pick it up, and just then the phone on the radio also stops ringing - also very concerning. So anyway the bored radio presenters decided to ring me off the cuff without warning even though the radio station is only 2 meters away from where I work to chat about my exhibitions coming up. Huh!

Anyhow, I hope '07 finds you all well! And I'll leave you with one of my favorite lyrics from one of my favorite bands 'Lamb'.

"little things"

there's so many things that we miss in our everyday lives
we're so busy hustling bustling chasing faraway dreams
we forget the little things
like blue skies, green eyes and our babies growing
like rainbows, fresh snow and the smell of summer
we forget to live

give us eyes like children so we live each day as our first
we're so sure we know so much that we forget to listen
then we want the fickle things
like cheap thrills, fast pills and constant consumption
like CDs, TVs and cars that speak our name
we forget to live


there's so many things that we miss in our everyday lives
we're so busy hustling bustling chasing faraway dreams
we forget the little things
like blue skies, green eyes and our babies growing
like rainbows, fresh snow and the smell of summer
we forget to live

okay one more post before Christmas

Well, I thought that would be it for this year, but then, I was in the backyard, and I saw this!

Now aint that the most phallic flower you have ever seen!

Merry Christmas!!!

Whaingaroa

Well, seeing as it's Christmas (almost) and summer (I wish) for the next week or so I can't imagine my self spending a great amount of time on the computer. So here is the poster to my next lot of exhibitions. Please join me at the openings if you can, and feel free pass this on to friends. The file should be big enough to print a small one off even, however, please let me know if you'd like a real invite and I will send you one.

I have been trying to write a bit of a blurb about this work, so here it is...
The unique culture of small town Aotearoa, New Zealand has inspired me to explore its people, the symbols of our culture, and land that has defined us. Small town New Zealand is changing, in fact New Zealand is changing and this is strongly reflected in the shift of us now living in cities as the majority of us now do, where as not so long ago, the majority of us were from small towns and rural areas. While change is inevitable looking at who we are today, and where we have come from is an important part of understanding our culture. This work reflects this and is a conceptual and personal artistic exploration of a town that is slowly changing along with the rest of our country. This work glimpses at symbols of both the old, and at the new, and it reflects on our relation, our interaction, and our similarity to our surroundings. While based in Whaingaroa Raglan this work is as much a study of quintessential New Zealand as it is a study of the land and people of a specific town.

With these thoughts in mind, I feel like sharing something else. I love this country, I havn't seen the whole world, but I've seen a bit of it, parts of Australia, America, Canada, Rarotonga, Fiji, South Africa, Singapore etc and one thing that I always love about being here is my ability to have my own space. To be able to walk home at night by myself, to go for bush walks, and beach walks by my self. To sit by my self in the dusk light, enjoy this place and take the odd picture, to lie in bed and hear the crickets with my doors open at night and not be afraid. It seems that while a change has happend over a long period of time, and as our water became unsafe to drink out of the rivers, so too walking alone became more unsafe. But is seems over the last year, that this growth of lack of saftey has grown at a much greater speed. It has struck me I suppose since things have been happening much closer to home. In fact, a place where I was photographing only a week ago and have photograhed many times before in the evening and at dusk by myself was the scene of a rape a few days ago. Sure these things have happend for years, but try telling that to the girl that this happend to, and for sure it is becoming so much more commen. What can we do? I don't know, but we sure shouldn't accept is as the normal!

Well, it's a crap note to leave on for this time of year I suppose, but it's well worth thinking about. But still life needs to be lived, and I suppose that's it really, who knows what will happen to us, and when. So, here is one of my favorite quotes "the future is no time to place your better days"

Merry Christmas and a really awesome New Year!!!!