It’s Saturday evening in the fish and chip shop on the main drag. It’s absolutely pissing down in the way that the skies West of the Main Divide only seem to know how. Eight men sit on benches, waiting to collect their deep-fried feed. “Good for the rain tanks but not much else,” says one of them, to no one in particular. The others in the room solemnly nod.

At Tip Head, brown water from the Buller River (in Māori, Kawatiri, meaning ‘deep and swift’) meets the raging Tasman Sea. The river carries a greater torrent in flood than any other New Zealand river. Built of granite builders quarried further south along the Coast at Cape Foulwind, the banks of the river were artificially extended around 1888 to create a pair of breakwaters, with another 100 metres added in 1966. Sometimes, the Buller has other ideas than to follow the channel that was created for it.

Like oil and water explores the relationship between active waterways in Te Waipounamu (rivers, estuaries and coastline) and the built environments that border them. Composed with reference to European Renaissance painting, there juxtapositions interrogate the narrative of urban planning by predominantly coloniser’s hands in our vulnerable landscapes. The photographs contemplate examples, often overt but occasionally subtle, of nature staying the course, impacting the future of preordained settlements and infrastructure.

The immiscible nature of tangata Tiriti’s view of land ownership alongside Te Ao Māori’s concept of Papatūānuku is considered through quiet contemplation of built and natural elements coexisting, teetering on the precipice of overwhelm. Layers of socio-politicial history, remnants of previous existence, and the evolution of earth, sea and sky fight for prominence.

Works from the ongoing series Like oil and water have been shown in a solo exhibition at PG Gallery 192, Ōtautahi August 2023 and in a group exhibition Legacy Issues: Lens-based investigations of Waitaha Canterbury whenua at Ashburton Art Gallery, Hakatere in May 2023.