Taranaki from Rahotu, Taranaki, 1 July 2010
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Laurence Aberhart
b.1949
Title
Taranaki from Rahotu, Taranaki, 1 July 2010
Details
| Production Date | 2010 |
|---|---|
| Collection(s) | Collection Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth. Acquired with assistance from the Lysaght-Watt Trust through the Govett-Brewster Foundation. |
| Accession Number | 2012/3 |
| Media | Silver gelatin print, gold and selenium toned. |
| Measurements | 8 x 10 " Framed: 425 x 460mm |
About
Among Laurence Aberhart’s suite of thirty works commissioned by the Govett-Brewster between 2009–2010, Taranaki from Rahotu, Taranaki, 1 July 2010 is a striking image exemplifying the artist’s exploration of landscape, drawing attention to the beauty of the obscure, the forgotten and the displaced. A grave monument, a female figure perched on the prow of boat, is viewed from behind and from an elevated position that belies its true scale. Overlooking the surrounding gravestones, the monument has an air of grandeur that is heightened by its parity with Maunga Taranaki on the horizon. Captured together, they are two markers in the landscape caught beneath one of Aberhart’s sublime cloudscapes. That the monument is a damaged relic, abused and possibly forgotten, is obscured by the composition. The figure's head is missing, smashed clear off when viewed frontally, yet this defacement is obscured from this angle, the artist's choice of perspective performing an act of restoration.
— Excerpt, Paul Brobbel, ‘Like Skeletons Betwixt: The Melancholy and the Surreal in the Photography of Laurence Aberhart,’ in Laurence Aberhart: Recent Taranaki Photographs, 2012. Adapted 2023.
