Home for Now is a project curated by the photographer, Jazz Cherrington, who is currently a student on the Press and Editorial course at Falmouth University. Through this selection of photographs, depicting the quiet and spacious landscapes she experienced during her time spent living in New Zealand, Cherrington explores the idea of what home means – deeply personal and intimately entwined with memory and finding presence.
In 2018, 20-year-old Cherrington left the UK alone and moved to New Zealand, beginning an 18-month-long journey of self-discovery and reinvention along its coasts – stripping back to the simplicity of just a woman and her van, living on avocado on toast and home deliveries of marmite. Re-tracing the footsteps of her father, Cherrington discovered a profound connection to place and a sense of home away from home, fostered by the feeling of community and open acceptance of locals, as well as newfound-distant family who regaled her with stories of her family history. “People often say, when you go travelling you find yourself. It sounds cliché, but it’s true!”
In an interview with the photographer, she described, with such warmth and humbleness, the feeling of nostalgia when she first arrived, the strange sensation of walking on familiar ground and being welcomed home to a place steeped in tradition and rich in culture. She recalled the arrival gate to Auckland’s international airport - decorated with a large wooden Maori carved archway, adorned with intricate figures, animals and Pāua shells. “It was as if I were meant to come back”, she said.
The photographs Cherrington curated for this series act as a record of her time as well as a personal guide to the country – each one a different place and time with a different story attached to it. It is Cherrington’s intention that each individual photo be considered within the context of the series as a whole and in doing so she paints us a more collective experience of her journey across New Zealand – its narratives and beauty seen through her lens. She conveyed the importance of documenting this through the use of analogue film, as the process became synonymous with the experience of being in a particular place. Film (which was not something so readily available in New Zealand) meant she had to feel and choose her shots, but also encouraged a deeper sense of presence and immersion into the landscapes she was observing and capturing – adjusting light and composition manually. Cherrington expressed that working in this way, instead of a digital and more immediate medium, also allowed for more consideration for the narratives that the landscapes held and the how the tactility of the developed photos would represent them.
The culture of the Maori, intrinsic to New Zealand and something which can be seen in the sensitivity and narratives within these images, is the Tangata Whenua’s (indigenous peoples of the land) ancestral, spiritual and respectful relationship with the land. It is sacred. Every creature, mountain and body of water holds a story or myth and, because we are one with the Earth (Papatuanuku), it should be cared for and protected.
The images in this project share this sense of timelessness, capturing the quietness and solace of being in the natural landscape. They have the ability to draw the viewer into their dream-like atmospheres or into the shadow of a mountain’s majesty. We can see this in the piece, ‘Mirror Lakes, Fiordland National Park’ (Fig.1) which depicts the view of a low cloud drifting between two mountains from across a still, glass-like lake. We are led through the space by intersecting diagonals of the sharp marsh grasses and come to rest at its centre where the two worlds meet – the real and the reflected – the soft and saturated greens of her palette inviting and calm – holding us there quietly in the scenery.
Alongside representing her experience and standing as tactile memories of the places where she travelled and lived, the photos in ‘Home for Now’ are also an ode to New Zealand and the call to exploration; a way for the photographer to both inspire others to make their own memories and journeys to the country and to share the beauty of New Zealand’s natural landscape with those who are unable to see it with their own eyes.
‘Motueka Saltwater Baths’ (Fig. 2) another such place and moment of quiet beauty Cherrington captured, reveals the salt flats reflecting in the evening light after the sea had receded. The muted, musky pink tones of dusk and the softness of the scene contrasted against the strong diagonals which she similarly uses to lead the eye up the image, make for a visually interesting image and creates a space to embrace you. Almost acting as a frame or an edge from which we find ourselves peering out into the space. The faint, cloud like mountain range in the distance caught in pale gold and peach hues with indigo blue shadows at their base, breath-taking and ancient. It is through these colours that we are arrested and brought back home to ourselves, reminiscent of somewhere safe and internal.
Other projects Cherrington has recently collaborated with include THIS IS ENDOMETRIOSIS, a global campaign by artist, Georgie Wileman which is focused on educating, giving voice and validation to the stories and effects of Endometriosis, and The Wave Project, a charity giving support to child mental health through surfing. Projects such as these have inspired the photographer and curator and remain something which she would like to pursue further as she continues her studies and fuels her independent practice.
