This body of work explores the manner in which light may be employed to convey symbolic and emotive qualities for a photographic composition. When we encounter still or moving images, we carry into that experience an array of preconceptions about the meaning of what we view. These preconceptions are heavily influenced by our learned cultural understandings of light and colour. We understand that warm golden light conveys richness and comfort, while deep cast shadows may tell us something is menacing. A life that is steeped in western cultural phenomena, exposes us to historical painting, and contemporary cinema. It is almost impossible for us, as an audience, to bypass the signifiers of light and colour.
These images are of commonly found plant varieties found in Aotearoa, and in other parts of the world. These particular examples grow rampantly in my own garden, and, because I did not choose for them to be there, I call them weeds. They are the things that appear in the absence of a more deliberate planting. They are strong, and resilient, and they crowd out and cling to my more treasured botanicals. However, they persist, and so I have chosen to seek out and display the beauty they offer, and the individual character. Each is presented here with both a villainous aspect, the weed skulking behind corners, and also as something redeemed - presented as a noble still life, framed in ornate gilded splendour. This duality endures for me as I pull them from the garden. They are the bad guys, also once and hereafter, beloved.
