Time Capsule: Ans Westra in the Hutt

Time Capsule: Ans Westra in the Hutt

Ans Westra

Dowse Art Museum
45 Laings Road, Lower Hutt

29 January – 01 May 2022

Ans Westra, , from the series Portrait of the Hutt 1988-89. Courtesy of the artist and SUITE TIROHANGA

“In my photographs I have tried to convey the feeling of living in the Hutt Valley…I try to be gentle in my approach and let my subjects guide me into an understanding”
Ans Westra

Between 1988 and 1989, photographer Ans Westra undertook a residency with The Dowse that enabled her to roam the streets of Te Awakairangi between the city centre, Petone and Naenae and take photos to capture a sense of our communities here.

Three decades after these images were made, Ans Westra’s photographs are like a time capsule and a beautiful record of how local people and places both have and haven’t changed. Even though our suburbs are still relatively young, these images show us how a history has already accumulated here that contributes to who we are.

In 1991, photographs from this residency were exhibited at The Dowse and purchased for our collection. In Time Capsule: Ans Westra in the Hutt we will be showing some of these images together again, as well as a new selection focussing on Naenae at Coco Pop Up Community Space and as billboards in the spots they were originally taken.

This project has three parts: photos can be seen in at CoCo Pop Up Community Space, Hillary Court, as nine billboards around Naenae, and in an exhibition at The Dowse. All three parts run from 29 January – 1 May 2022.

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