New Exhibition Brings A Light Touch To Courtenay Place

The new Courtenay Place Light Boxes exhibition Here makes light of dark in a series of photographs taken by Ben Lowe while hiking Wellington’s South Coast, Te Rimurapa/Sinclair’s Head.

The series emerged from Ben’s desire to make time and light and life tangible, and create a parallel world of time through the interplay of light trails of distant stars, people, planes, ships, and meteors.

The photos were taken with long exposures using the night sky to light the work, allowing the viewer to experience a place differently.

Te Whanganui-a-Tara based artist and photographer Ben Lowe is undertaking a Master of Fine Arts at Wellington’s Massey University of Creative Arts, after graduating in 2021 with a Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Photography.

By letting the old light from the stars imbue itself over long durations, the photographs allow us to experience a place differently says Ben.

“Here explores how the night adjusts our perception of time, the cosmos and whenua, how intimate their connection is woven together, and the deep pleasures of walking in the dark.

“To see the area from a different perspective, I walked the hills at night when the terrain was cloaked by the night sky.

“The sense of time as measured astronomically is reflected in the process: walking through and feeling the terrain, a sense of place accumulating over time, uncovering traces of the past, to find a moment to set up the camera where it takes the photo over a single exposure sometimes lasting over six hours using light from the moon and stars.”

The new exhibition runs from 14 October – 12 February 2024.

The eight 3-metre high steel and glass LED light boxes were launched in May 2008, and are located at 77-97 Courtenay Place.

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