Capturing small town's images - November 2015

DUNEDIN-BASED photographer and former WHS student Samantha Matthews was faced with an unexpected challenge while putting together her latest exhibition.

From Fordell is showing at Space Gallery until November 27. It's a selection of photos Ms Matthews took in the township of Fordell, near Wanganui, where she grew up.

Ms Matthews had been photographing small towns in Otago as part of her Masters work. On regular visits to Fordell to see family, she began taking photos in and around Fordell.

"So I thought about putting them together as a project for an exhibition to be held in Wanganui - the perfect place to do it." Ms Matthews found the process of capturing and editing the photos for the exhibition challenging because of her personal connection to them.

"I had it set in my mind how I do things, and it was hard to separate my process as a photographer from my connection to what I was working on. Normally I'm quite critical during the editing process but it was hard for me to be critical when the images were so familiar to me. I'd never had that before."

The photos could be from any small town in New Zealand, but they contain details that resonate personally with her: graffiti in a bus shelter, newspaper clippings framed and hung on a wall, a cluttered mantelpiece, seats in a rural hall.

Her first home - an ordinary house where she lived with her family until she was seven - also features in the exhibition. The photographs are noticeably empty of people, but that doesn't mean Ms Matthews has ignored them. "They're not in the photos, but they are still there in the details they leave behind."

Ms Matthews believes growing up in Fordell, where her mother's family has lived for more than a century, shaped her as a photographer.

"I've always been interested in rural halls and small towns, and how spaces are used. I think that could be because of where I came from." She has also been influenced by photographers such as Robin Morrison and Laurence Aberhart. "Their work is so accessible - it's just everyday New Zealand. And I thought if they can photograph those things so can I."