Joyce Campbell

New Zealand artist Joyce Campbell presents two recent series of photographic works that explore the history, mythology and ecology of two sites: one located on Maori tribal land in New Zealand, the other a brownfield in Los Angeles. Te Taniwha explores waterways that lie between Lake Waikaremoana and Te Reinga, a settlement situated on Ngai Kohatu tribal territory--and follows the quest to find two ancient snake-like water creatures: the Taniwha and the giant longfin eel. Te Reinga is...
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New Zealand artist Joyce Campbell presents two recent series of photographic works that explore the history, mythology and ecology of two sites: one located on Maori tribal land in New Zealand, the other a brownfield in Los Angeles. Te Taniwha explores waterways that lie between Lake Waikaremoana and Te Reinga, a settlement situated on Ngai Kohatu tribal territory--and follows the quest to find two ancient snake-like water creatures: the Taniwha and the giant longfin eel. Te Reinga is a place of great mythological and historical significance, where mid-19th-century colonial wars were fought against English occupying forces. In addition, Lake Waikaremoana has rich and layered mythological associations, being the original home of many taniwha, including the fantastical water creature Hine-kōrako who spawned the Ngai Kohatu subtribe.The Crown Coach Botanical series, made on site also using 19th-century ambrotype techniques, documents the botanical specimens growing in a polluted industrial site in downtown Los Angeles known as the Crown Coach brownfield. Part of a larger series, LA Botanical, Campbell uses these ambrotypes to chart the needs and resources of the Los Angeles inhabitants, creating a "survival guide" of edible and medicinal plants that have grown in Los Angeles since the city's birth. This manifestation paints Los Angeles as a field of abundant life as opposed to an industrial wasteland.Bringing these two series of work together--Te Taniwha and Crown Coach--provides an opportunity to discuss the spiritual and symbolic connections between the two sites through the use of 19th-century spiritual photographic techniques and presents an opportunity to explore the relationship between sacred plants and traditions, land rights and access (public and private), both pertinent to Te Taniwha and Los Angeles.