The Last Rivers Song: Photographs of the Clutha River and Kawarau Rivers before the filling of Lake Dunstan
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In The Last Rivers Song, Lloyd Godman presents a stunning series of black and white photographs that show the raw, natural, beauty of Clutha River (which flows from Lake Wanka) and Kawarau River (which flows from Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown) before the water was stilled with the filling of Lake Dunstan at the completion of the hydro dam at Clyde in Central Otago, New Zealand. The hydro dam was planned to provide power to an aluminum smelter at Aromana which due to protests never eventuated.
In an age where rivers are increasingly under threat from development, it offers an emblematic, evocative portrait of a wild, free-flowing river that has been lost to hydro development. The publication includes a detailed introduction to the conception of the project and the technical challenges of producing large mural photographs (which are gold toned from gold mined from the very river itself) and were first exhibited at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. From photographic stop motion to time exposure the aura of the river is captured beyond human vision.
Exhibited at the Marshall Seifert Gallery, to compliment the murals at the DPAG, was a series of smaller photographs, the Clutha Panels, which show the expansive mood of the river. The full suite of photographs is included in the book.
Hyperlinks within the publication link to animated video using sequences of the photographs and an original soundscape composed by Trevor Coleman and Paul Hutchins to accompany the DPAG exhibition.
"Water surges, sprays, foams, whirls, ripples and rests, framed by very black rock which, when devoid of detail cameos the textures of its movements. In other instances a chiaroscuro lighting throws forward rock surface, its water-worn texture combining in rhythmic counterpoint with the current. The mural works are more expressively extreme, and have a greater over-all movement, each work capturing a different mood, from candy-floss fibres of foam in mural five, to the bone-crushing torrents". Alastair Galbraith
This was the first major project that Godman undertook which created an environmental foundation for his current work with Tillandsias ( airplants ) as a means of integrating plants into architecture in a fully sustainable manner.
About the author
Lloyd Godman established and was head of the photo section at the School of Art Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand for 20 years before moving to Melbourne in 2005. He also instigated and helped organize several major arts events. Concern for the environment is a resilient thread that has connected his many projects. The Last Rivers Song was the first series of work where this concern in the natural environment played a pivotal role. In The Last Rivers Song, Godman applied a wide range of photographic technique, from time exposure in bright sunlight, to stop motion, to large analogue photographic mural printing and gold toning. These set the foundation for further creative evolution in future projects.
Over decades his work has transformed from a tradition approach to photography, through photosynthesis as a photographic process, and eventually, sustainable integration of plants into architecture with Tillandsias (air plants).
