To Save a Forest… Photographs by leading New Zealand conservationists: Martin Hill, Ian Macdonald and Craig Potton.
This exhibition brings together for the first time works by three acclaimed New Zealand artists devoted to celebrating and preserving the natural wilderness. Martin Hill, known internationally as a designer and environmental sculptor makes impeccable photographic records of his temporal art works. Ian Macdonald was a leading figure in a successful international campaign to save Whirinaki forest from exploitation and has photographed some of the world’s most important wilderness areas for the British Broadcasting Corporation. Craig Potton helped save a unique native beech forest from clear felling before adopting photography as his main weapon as a green advocate and publisher dedicated to preserve wilderness areas.
For this exhibition Potton pairs images of the same nominal subject matter to reiterate the importance of viewpoint and moment for establishing meaning and beauty in a photograph. Aiming to share
the awe of being surrounded by ancient trees and flora in a native forest, Ian Macdonald’s work has evolved from standard one point perspective views to multiple, highly detailed composite views stitched by computer software to produce remarkably tactile and plausible new views of ancient trees and forests.
Made from primary elements of the earth and referencing the cyclical principles of nature through universal symbols such as the circle, Martin Hill’s sculpture and photographs advocate for a sustainable, restorative economy. He has increasingly incorporated a human outline in his recent environmental sculptures. Whether made from ice, moss or other local materials, his temporal guardian figures remind us for example, of how profoundly our own bodies, composed of over 60% water, are reliant on the protection of these vital natural systems for our own survival.
John B. Turner
Craig Potton, born Nelson, New Zealand 1952. Young Conservator of the Year aged 17, later gained degrees in Eastern Religion and English. After brief teaching career worked full-time for the conservation movement. Authored national park handbooks and established himself as a NZ photographer of wilderness in 1980s. First book Images from a Limestone Landscape (1987) helped save South Island’s Paparoa coastal area and forest from destruction. Independent company, Craig Potton Publishing founded in 1989. His seminal books include Moment and Memory – Photography in the New Zealand Landscape (1998) and Craig Potton New Zealand (2012). Photographed many parts of the world including Dry Valley and Ross Sea, Antarctica, and Nepal and Poland. Exhibited worldwide, over the last decade, now has gallery for his own photographs in Arrowtown and Nelson NZ. Directed scenic special effects for Lord of the Rings trilogy and Peter Pan. Screen-wrote and presented NZ documentaries Rivers (2010) and Wild Coasts (2011). He was featured in the exhibition `To Save a Forest….Photographs by leading New Zealand conservationists: Martin Hill, Ian Macdonald and Craig Potton,’ curated by John B Turner for the 2014 Pingyao International Photography Festival.
