I have been photographing the urban wetland in Waitangi Park, Wellington, for over six years. It is near the site of the original Waitangi Lagoon, which was used for centuries by Māori for food gathering, as there were eels, fish and shellfish within it. It was also a source of fresh water, and where waka were launched into the sea. 

 

In 1855, an earthquake raised the land around the stream by several metres, forcing the original stream underground. The land was subsequently reclaimed, and later remodelled into its current incarnation as an urban wetland in 2006. 

These three images are from a series which were made over several visits, from late summer and into the winter of 2019. The wetland is a living entity, and these images capture it's vitality and energy, and I also hope, something of its past spirit.

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Gil first started photography in the early 2000's as an adjunct to her work as a sound designer.  

Her first exhibition was in 2013, and was a series  called 'Loam', taken in an abandoned mechanics workshop. Gil says of this exhibition:  “Beneath the layers of grime in the workshop, were glimpses of Laura Ashley wallpapers and Axminster carpets, of other era's,  and past occupants.

 

This was the start of my quest to capture the energy of the unseen, the quietly beautiful and the overlooked.”

 

Since 2013 she has been part of seven group shows in Wellington and Auckland and has presented two solo exhibitions. Gil Eva's most recent show was October 2019 and her second solo show at Photospace.  Here she showed four large works from her Waitangi Series and a work from 2016, called ‘Welcome! Gil”.

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www.gilevacraig.com