14 Wairarapa Midweek Extra Wednesday, April 13, 2022 ARATOI VOICES
Extra
Trio inspired by Wairarapa landscapes Kylie Alexander, Lucy Cooper, and Rebecca Kempton are three photographers who take inspiration from the Wairarapa landscape. Kempton is a full-time professional photographer and holds a Master of Photography with Distinction with the NZIPP. Her interest in photography began when she was living in London. “I took photography classes which were film in those days. There was a real emphasis when taking a shot to get it right the first time which really set me up for my journey in photography.” When Kempton returned to New Zealand, she maintained her interest. It was joining the Wairarapa Camera Club which taught her about the digital world. “That was huge. I became part of the community. Club competitions gave me feedback. I was president
Photographs by members of the Wairarapa Camera Club on display during Aratoi’s Kotahitanga exhibition. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
for three years from 201821 and on the committee prior to that.” Over the past few years, she has turned her interest into a business. “Half my work is commercial and half family portraits. However, the landscape around me is what inspires me.
The light in Wairarapa is stunning. I like to work in an abstract manner, pulling out all the textures and colour.” Kylie Alexander also developed her love of photography when travelling. She too counts the Wairarapa Camera Club as an influence and
photographers, names the Wairarapa Camera Club and the supportive Wairarapa photography community as her teachers. Her subject matter is eclectic, she says, naming documentary photography and finding subject matter in what might appear to be the uninspiring as interests. Water, which she finds “elemental and mysterious,” features too. Cooper’s latest project melds her love of audio with photography. She has developed a series of short podcasts featuring 10 photographers which can be accessed on several platforms. Go to Burst Mode.com for information. All three of these photographers have won New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography and other awards. We look forward to their continuing presence in the Wairarapa arts scene.
CLIMATE FOR CHANGE
New earth from old one Justine Kingdon
While we have been vigorously working to stave off the worst effects of the pandemic, many of us, myself included, appear to have lost sight of the glaringly obvious. The pandemic of extinction and climate change. Our future is not so bright. Or perhaps, with global warming, our future is far too bright. And it is sad and yet true to say, a terribly large proportion of the world has become a rubbish dump. I don’t think fear is the way forward. I am all for love. What better metaphor can there be, than to find a tired piece of furniture in an op shop, take it home, and transform it? Re-use and re-create with what you have, I say. I find joy in everything in my upcycled 70s house, a
modern-day faux-palace I call ‘Maude’. After five years of upcycling and theatricalising worn out furniture, I have finally gone right to the heart of things. Children. I invited a small group of them to walk through my Narnian wardrobe into a rented room at Fareham Hall, which had come to be known as ‘the abomination which causes desolation’. Hoarding tendencies go hand-in-hand with my brand of creative enthusiasm and this room was a testament. The children and I sat down and became a council. In the spirit of agreement and freedom, we renamed the room New Earth. After that, we started creating treasure out of the trash. Weekly speeches were given on animals in Aotearoa facing extinction.
Fundraising plans for the work on saving them emerged. Together, we planned and ran a Children’s Day event. This involved making trashed planet wings, having an instant fashion show and dripping donated paint on a wishing well and a giant mirror. For a finale, we performed a somewhat rehearsed, yet mostly spontaneously assimilated dance about our desire to stick together, not give up, and to do our joyful best for Mother Earth. And this, my friends, is just the beginning. Be the magic in the world you want to see. That is what we say, before we step through the wardrobe here at New Earth, Featherston. More than ever, our planet needs the deep magic, which, for far too many generations, has been mostly lost.
DO WE KNOW YOUR DOGS? Have you moved or got new dogs? Now’s the time to make sure your dog registration details are up to date. Update your dog account online via the Council website (www.mstn.govt.nz) to ensure you receive your dog registration in June. Would you like your registration emailed? Send your details to animalservices@mstn.govt.nz or phone 06 370 6300. WWW.MSTN.GOVT.NZ @MastertonDC
draws on the Wairarapa landscape for her subject matter. “I love taking photos at Cape Palliser – the rough and rugged landscape and the ever-changing sea and weather. There are no distractions down there. It’s my therapy to be honest.” Alexander’s aim is to keep her photography largely as a hobby. “I do sell prints, however, and do some photography jobs. One of my passions is photographing sports, especially rugby. And I love photographing birds, particularly pīwakawaka. It’s a challenge but rewarding to get that one shot that’s perfectly captured in movement.” Lucy Cooper describes herself as self-taught, having played around with old film cameras as a child. She has done some online camera courses and like the other two
About to step through the Narnia wardrobe are from left, India and Levon Grenell, Angus Penhale and Lila McIntyre. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
