0veiview

'The town inlanu shoulu be sepaiateu by a bioau belt of lanu to be public

piopeity. on conuition that no builuings be evei eiecteu on it." This is what was
stateu by the New Zealanu Company, 18S9, maiking the commencement of
Wellington's town belt. By 18S2 The New Zealanu Company's woius weie
uisiegaiueu anu builuings
weie iaiseu on this
'intenueu' piotecteu lanu.
When compaiing images of
the town belts size in184u
vs 2u14 the uecieasing
amount of Wellington's
town belt becomes blatantly
factual.

Aftei peisonally iesiuing in
Wellington foi thiee yeais, I
have only just become
awaie of the towns belt.
Nevei hau I seen it in newspapeis oi magazines oi heaiu of the woius in a
sentence. This ieality maue me attentive to the amount of 'Wellingtonians' who
aie un notifieu oi uneuucateu of the town belts existence. Bue to wellingtons
ieputation foi being a "stuuent city," this natuially iesults in a laige amount of
the population uescenuing fiom uiveise cities, iesulting in small histoiical
knowleuge anu in paiticulai unawaieness of the belt that lives on in this city.

The town belt is uecieasing in size yeaily. This is the haish ieality to a numbei of
causes anu thieats to its sustainability. 0ne of which, is the human impact of
waste uumping iesulting in plastic pollution. I can only think that if people weie
moie awaie of this belt, it woulu be iespecteu anu eventually the vanishing anu
polluting of the town belt woulu come to an enu. The town belt was establisheu
as a piotecteu aiea of vegetation that woulu eteinally iemain gieen. It woulu be
useu as a means to piotect plant species anu giow them (ieal woiu foi this),
avoiuing the aspects of humanization. As pollutants such as watei anu stoim
watei pollution aie consistently inclining in Wellington, it is impoitant to
auuiess the pollution of the town belt while it is at a low moueiate level, befoie
it becomes uncontiollable.

As a stuuent who will possibly make Wellington my futuie peimanent home, it
seems an obligation foi me to cieate a peuagogical exhibition that poitiays my
pievious unawaieness of this histoiical belt, by at the same time euucating the
community on it's histoiy, existence anu cuiient status. I have cieateu
photogiaphic seiies' conceining pollution in my piioi woik, howevei, this in
uepth analysis of pollution in Welligtons town belt will help me to uevelop these
iueas fuithei.

Toi Poneke is an establisheu anu inviting communal galleiy that offeis an insight
into Wellington ait. The ualleiy states its ueuication to suppoiting Wellington
baseu aitists; theiefoie by auuiessing this iuea in a cieative anu infoimative way
theie will be positive outcomes foi both myself anu the galleiy. By collaboiating
togethei, I will be gaining the expeiience of my fiist solo exhibition showing a
theme that I am passionate anu peisonal with. Toi Poneke will be uistiibuting
new, significant knowleuge out into the community anu iaising awaieness
towaius this council mattei. Toi Poneke is an iueal galleiy space to piesent this
exhibition uue to the theme anu ielationship it has with Wellington city. Bue to
this space being fiee of chaige, this bioauens the aiiay of people
sociogiaphically that aie inviteu to expeiience the ait woik As a iesult of
collaboiation between my iueas anu Toi Ponekes location, a laige amount of the
community will be eniicheu with new infoimation conceining Wellingtons town
belt.

The exhibition (peihaps titleu !"#$%&' %$& )&*% will be baseu towaius those who
aie new to Wellington city, paiticulaily stuuents anu non-national newcomeis. It
is impoitant that these gioups aie taigeteu, because by immeuiately euucating
newcomeis cieates a chain anu maintenance of infoimation anu awaieness
thioughout the community. I want to attiact stuuents (not only aitistic) to the
galleiy to view these images. This will euucate the up anu coming wellington
population with some histoiic ioots of the city. By intiiguing with this taiget
auuience, I will uistiibute cieative posteis to the univeisities anu teaches
thioughout wellington mysteiiously stating the ievelation that will be uncoveieu
when they visit the exhibition. I will taiget these aieas in my maiketing plan by
uisplaying the exhibition flyeis at 0niveisities, polytechs anu in close pioximity
to the aiipoit.

I piopose to cieate images that inteitwine, ielate anu ieflect the natuialness of
the towns belt as well as the juxtaposing use of man maue plastics, one of the
main mateiials polluting the belt. The uncanny ielationship between these two
anu seeing them useu togethei in the exhibition will be a blatant plea to the
community about how these two aie not intenueu to be mixeu. Theie will be
signs of both natuie locations that aie unknowingly in the town belt, anu the use
of plastic in each image, to maintain this message thioughout the whole galleiy
expeiience. I will use plastics as;
A canvas) this will convey the intenueu founuations of the town belt. It
was founueu on a natuial, ecological basis, which is why the ielationship
between these two mateiials uoes not woik. It will seem iionically
unnatuial to view.
A stamp) The stamping of mateiials such as paint onto a photogiaph will
plastic will hinuei the images natuial chaim (much like pollutions affect
on the belt). It can spieau subtly acioss the image, poitiaying the toll
pollution is taking on the enviionment anu how it inteifeies with the view
anu natuial beauty of natuies belt.
A lens oi filtei) this woiks as a physical uisiuption of the image. It
challenges the viewei's focus when looking at the photogiaph in the
hopes that they will come to the iealization of what is impoitant, anu how
the community's vision is uistoiteu when it comes to this mattei.

The images will be confionting anu emotionally engaging to the vieweis of the
galleiy. They will hang with a laige amount of white space suiiounuing them to
gain the vieweis full attention anu awaieness. It is impoitant to have the galleiy
silent to give the vieweis time to peisonally ieflect anu uevelop fiom viewing
the images. In saying this, I have cieateu a sounutiack that woulu be veiy
influential anu memoiable to the exhibition expeiience. The sounutiack featuies
silence foi appiox. 7 minutes, anu then subtly featuies 1Sseconus of tiees
swaying anu biius chiiping, anu then they faue away again. This small glimmei
of life will iepiesent the small glimmei of hope that the vegetation anu wilu life
stanu in these conuitions. This sounutiack will poitiay the silence wheie theie
shoulu be life, anu the iecognition of what will happen if this pollution is caiiieu
on.

The thing that was oiiginateu to stay clean foi the public is now becoming uiity
as a iesult of the public.

Piice pei piece: $4uu.uu

Bluiiing the vision with plastics. The exhibition will act as an eye open to cleai
wellington's bluiieu vision on pollution. As a possibility I will eithei; hang
plastics in fiont of, wiap plastics aiounu, oi cieate plastic glasses as an
inteiactive way to euucate the vieweis anu geneiate a memoiable expeiience.
The images will appeai uistoiteu anu uncleai anu this will lessen anu lessen the
moie the exhibition is exploieu. By the enu of the exhibiton, the vieweis vision
will become cleai anu they will leave euucateu anu

Paint can be useu a tool to show the futuie anu things that have not happeneu
yet. It is a mateiial establisheu enough that it uoesn't iepiesent tiuth, theiefoie
you uo not have to woiiy about contioveisy when using it.