Milford / Takapuna Tides

Blooming lovely new use of Takapuna vacant lot

The challenging growing conditions at Takapuna’s temporary community garden are being put to inspiring use – showcasing vivid photographs of flowers.

Eight works by Auckland photographer Kadri Elcoat are on display at the Huron St site, next to the Toka Puia car park. Garden champion Andrew McKenzie says they are in better bloom than some of the planter boxes he and a small group of volunteers tend.

“There’s not enough sunshine [with the tall buildings beside] and it’s a bit windy,” he says of the council-owned site. “But it’s just a temporary place for the garden. We’re talking to the local board about other spots.”

The exhibition is a way of extending the use of the gap-filler garden and it has been put on in conjunction with Eke Panuku,the council’s property management arm,

“I’m so excited to brighten up this public space with these gorgeous flower portraits, which are a whopping 1.2m wide, so you feel you can almost fall into the image space itself,” says Elcoat.

The lawyer-turned-artist spent around 10 years in Australia before returning home during the Covid epidemic. She has drawn the works on show in Takapuna from a larger collection called Fever folio which was part of a portfolio for photography studies in Melbourne. Later she exhibited portraits in Sydney.

The still-life images of a variety of flowers feature Hilo powder to create atmosphere and movement in the shots, which are taken using a timer. This is the powder used in

Happening on Huron... A once-barren space in Takapuna that is now home to a community garden also has a new photographic exhibition

Indian festivals and colour runs. Elcoat says: “I’m obsessed with the stuff.” It makes the results of set-up shots unpredictable.

The photographic prints are mounted on recycled material similar to that used for billboards, so should weather well for some months. They will form part of the Auckland Festival of Photography programme, with that event on in June.

McKenzie said the aim was to continue to make the space available for up-and-coming artists. A container might be used for a more sheltered display.

He is working with Eke Panuku to facilitate more activations at the site.

The Takapuna North Community Trust also had ideas, including hopscotch markings to encourage children’s play, he said.

As with the garden, the other activities aim to turn what had been a dead zone into a useful little urban pocket on the walk from the public carpark to the town centre, McKenzie said. Longer-term, a more productive gardening site in central Takapuna is hoped for, with access to land on Auburn Reserve a possibility. Auckland Council is currently reviewing use of the reserve, hoping to create a welcoming public space.

• Find the Fev’?”er folio photographs at 14 Huron St, Takapuna.

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