DOWNSTREAM was an 18-month photographing project that completed with an exhibition at the Taupo Museum in December, 2017.
DOWNSTREAM is an installation of sounds and photographs choreographed from 30 selected places along the Waikato River. Running 425 kms from the Tongariro to Port Waikato, the Waikato River is central to the daily life of the Waikato region. The river has the seductive qualities of water to inspire contemplation and caution - diverse responses invoked by the textures and depths of the changeable Waikato River. Every sound and photograph is unique to its time and place at the river, showing a connected complexity to this moving body of water.DOWNSTREAM presented an aural/visual experience of the Waikato River, reclaiming listening as a primary sense, and in combination with images, activates our visual memory and perceptions of time and place. A remix or reinterpretation of the field/visual recording, time-synced so that the sets of sounds shift in and out of one another in unison, setting the stage for you to navigating between the aural/visual senses simultaneously throughout the space.
My contribution involved photographing 30 specific areas of the Waikato River, selecting and editing photographs before compositing the images to the sound files by Kent MacPherson. I organised the gallery space with Taupo Museum, wrote the project brief for advertorial and project pitch to gallery, and provided all event material for public information.