Chris Leskovsek – Not too bad

In 2011 I landed in New Zealand. By the end of that year, I became severely depressed, one day I decided to take random walks with a camera in hand. I had found the camera gave meaning to the little things. Shortly after, that simple act became something important, almost crucial for me to understand this place. It grounded me and made me self aware. In many ways, I feel that my decision to photograph my encounters in New Zealand had a lot to do with the fact that I didn’t know better ways to express my longings and frustrations.

‘Not too bad’ – replied someone when I asked him ‘How are you?’ a few days after I had arrived in Auckland. I said ‘why, what’s wrong?’, to which he immediately replied ‘nothing, why?’ and left the room. With time I learned that this kiwi ambiguity perhaps had something to do with my photography after all these years, in which, each frame may not be enough to tell the whole story, but just enough to raise a question.

‘Not too bad’ is much about the places I’ve seen, as they are about the people I’ve encountered and my personal reactions to the environment. Photography simply happens as a consequence of such encounters.

These are little fragments of my life as an immigrant in a place I now learnt to call ‘home’. In a way, this could be like a letter you write home about, that says ‘I’m doing OK, nothing is seriously wrong, maybe a few little things, but not really worth mentioning, however here’s what I’ve seen, I hope you find these photographs, not too bad”.hope you find these photographs, not too bad”.