A Very Complicated System of Traps

2015

Visual submission for Kimberley Annan’s Masters in Fine Arts. 

63 prints of various sizes and print-processes.

"The Zone is a very complicated system of traps, and they're all deadly. I don't know what's going on here in the absence of people, but the moment someone shows up, everything comes into motion."

Stalker (1979), A Tarkovsky.

On an undeveloped section of land in Glen Innes, located on the corner of Taniwha and Estree Streets, lies Lot 63. This section mirrors Tarkovsky’s "Zone" in its complex and layered history, encompassing optimism and re-growth, institutionalization and twists of fate, violence and neglect. After World War II, when Glen Innes aimed to reintegrate returning soldiers and build families, Lot 63 was transformed into a school, becoming a cornerstone of the community for five decades. However, as populations and governmental policies shifted, the school was closed in the 1990s. Subsequently, three high school students, seeking refuge from exams, accidentally set fire to the old gymnasium, leading to the school's erasure.

Today, Lot 63 serves as a transient space, utilized by locals for various purposes, from walking dogs to cutting through to nearby amenities. By night, its obscured sight-lines and poor lighting make it a potential site for hidden acts of violence.  For a year, I visited Lot 63, photographing and documenting its evolving social landscape. Through image-making, Lot 63 was both constructed and fragmented, revealing a space where past experiences accumulate and a universal, timeless space emerges.

A Very Complicated System of Traps draws inspiration from cinema, particularly Tarkovsky's Stalker. The photographs represent pauses in the cinematic flow, with the gaps between still images creating an allusive and tangential narrative. These ruptures between images release the relationship between image and cinematic time from movement's momentum, allowing texture, scale, focus, depth of field, and tonal qualities to restructure the narrative. The resulting space becomes a simulated environment, inviting viewers to insert themselves and craft their own narratives. The montage of shots emphasizes the fragmented, partial nature of Lot 63’s story, paralleling the atmospheric nature of Tarkovsky’s Zone.