Degeneration – Ella Hickford
In Degeneration photographer Ella Hickford investigates the history and ecology of Horomaka Banks Peninsula. There are stories told through landscape, uncovered through ongoing research, an appreciation for nature and atmospheric photography. She examines the scars on the land caused by colonialist enterprise – the dry stumps of tōtara trees, eroded soil and altered waterways; a domino effect that continues to unravel.
Hickford is thoughtful and meticulous in how she captures these points in time. Each image reveals a narrative that she immerses the viewer in. Her panoramic views are reminiscent of historic surveying photographs where the medium was used to understand and document the land, reflecting the imagination of land development. Here however, Hickford presents a documentary of degeneration. The remnants of the ecological destruction photographed with an honesty and sincerity.
These works are presented within the gallery on robust aluminium panels which push the photographs into the space. Curved panels reach out and envelop the viewer, placing them at the eye level of Hickford looking into the landscape. Similarly, elongated views lead the eye across, scanning their horizons, while vivid all-encompassing detail magnifies the materiality of the subjects.
There is a tension within the photographs. Between the past and present, the hidden and the revealed, the personal and the environmental. Hickford traverses these spaces, calling the conversations to attention with her considered lens.
Click here to read more about this body of work in our City Art Reader interview with Ella Hickford.
