Although ‘high’ art has an important place in our culture, other art work by people within our community also deserves to be examined, as it plays an important function in our society regardless of the artist’s age or experience. By doing this, we are able to have a more diverse, complex, and authentic view of what constitutes contemporary art within Wellington. One recent exhibition based on this concept of the importance of art, regardless of the age of an artist, was ‘Who are we?’ which featured six teenage photographers exploring their own perceptions and perspectives on what it means to be a teenager in Aotearoa New Zealand. This was situated at PhotoSpace gallery, upstairs on level 1, 37 Courtney Place, which is the only art gallery in Wellington exclusively dedicated to contemporary and international photography. The exhibition was held by Zeal Youth Education Trust, for students who had just completed their photography course. Zeal is a not-for-profit youth organization with centres based in Wellington, Hamilton, and West Auckland, which aims to see teenagers reach their full potential through expressing their creativity within their community. These photography courses are part of a series of workshops which intend to engage teenagers in affordable, creative, practical learning.
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| Installation view of Lola Graham-Wiggins' works in PhotoSpace, photo by Lehi Lee-Duncan |
Among the six artists was Lola Graham-Wiggins, a 17 year old from Wellington High School. Graham-Wiggins’ sharp eye for balanced compositions and layered juxtapositions of textures, especially contrasting the human body against nature, made for a distinctly coherent and compelling series. Through the photography course, Graham-Wiggins was provided with photography tutors, and a Canon EOS 1000D camera to borrow for the duration of the course, and the opportunity to exhibit her art work.
Some of her art work features the teenage body, uncovered, as part of an exploration of identity and self-awareness, within the tension of the transition between childhood and adulthood. In fact, the not-for-profit organization had to delicately manoeuvre a way to safely and conscientiously exhibit her work in the gallery: although supportive and encouraging of the young artist, they were well aware of the problematic aspect of exhibiting artwork depicting nude under 18s. Initially Zeal staff members considered selecting other art works of Graham-Wiggins to show in this exhibition. However after recognizing how important these works were to her, staff members decided to prioritise the inclusion of these works, and ensured that this was done in a protected and delicate manner, promoting safety and inclusivity from all involved parties. After narrowly avoiding the exclusion of these potentially contentious photos from the exhibition, the solution that both Lola Graham-Wiggins and Zeal came to was to put up a disclaimer on the exhibition wall, and to use signed consent forms which the under 18 year old models and their parents signed. Graham-Wiggins said that the staff and managers of Zeal ‘worked together to find out a way to support me so I could get my voice to be heard.’
Graham-Wiggin’s portrayal of the human body was deliberately evocative – she describes her attitude to anatomy as ‘It’s a body, get over it!’ – but she is also interested in ‘symbolizing vulnerability’ through the nudity and turned backs of her models, to explore the experience of being a teenager. ‘This is me expressing myself how I deem appropriate,’ Graham-Wiggins tells me. When I asked how it felt having her artwork on display in an exhibition, Graham-Wiggins answered ‘Terrifying! I am terrified right now. I took a reasonably personal approach to [the photos], and from the start I was a bit iffy about whether this is too much of a serious theme for me to be going with. . . But it was the only one that seemed to capture who I am.’
Brook Turner, the CEO of Zeal Education Trust
was particularly fascinated by Lola’s work ‘Confusion: Conformity vs Individuality’,
which depicts two teenagers with their faces blurred by shaking, against the
background of a tree:
‘When I look at this photo I just see an absolute bombardment of messages, expectations, and statements of identity that are hitting young people, and their response is just being in a state of flux, and uncertainty, and sort of shifting between “What is truth?”, “Where is home?”, “Who is helpful here?”, “What is helpful?”, and “Where should I focus?”, “Who am I?” But then this incredible backdrop of a huge strong tree that speaks of this primal stability and life, and nature, and the cycle of life that always has rhythm and has strength . . . and this beautiful contrast that shows both the troubling issues of our time, and yet the hopeful message that is in our world that if we just open our eyes and see it, we’ll find peace and hope.’
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| Lola Graham Wiggins, 'The calm before the storm: A rather cliché saying that can often ring true', photographic print on paper. |
Some of her art work features the teenage body, uncovered, as part of an exploration of identity and self-awareness, within the tension of the transition between childhood and adulthood. In fact, the not-for-profit organization had to delicately manoeuvre a way to safely and conscientiously exhibit her work in the gallery: although supportive and encouraging of the young artist, they were well aware of the problematic aspect of exhibiting artwork depicting nude under 18s. Initially Zeal staff members considered selecting other art works of Graham-Wiggins to show in this exhibition. However after recognizing how important these works were to her, staff members decided to prioritise the inclusion of these works, and ensured that this was done in a protected and delicate manner, promoting safety and inclusivity from all involved parties. After narrowly avoiding the exclusion of these potentially contentious photos from the exhibition, the solution that both Lola Graham-Wiggins and Zeal came to was to put up a disclaimer on the exhibition wall, and to use signed consent forms which the under 18 year old models and their parents signed. Graham-Wiggins said that the staff and managers of Zeal ‘worked together to find out a way to support me so I could get my voice to be heard.’
 |
| Lola Graham-Wiggins, 'Stress: Are you drowning, or is there just a lot to do?', photographic print on paper. |
Graham-Wiggin’s portrayal of the human body was deliberately evocative – she describes her attitude to anatomy as ‘It’s a body, get over it!’ – but she is also interested in ‘symbolizing vulnerability’ through the nudity and turned backs of her models, to explore the experience of being a teenager. ‘This is me expressing myself how I deem appropriate,’ Graham-Wiggins tells me. When I asked how it felt having her artwork on display in an exhibition, Graham-Wiggins answered ‘Terrifying! I am terrified right now. I took a reasonably personal approach to [the photos], and from the start I was a bit iffy about whether this is too much of a serious theme for me to be going with. . . But it was the only one that seemed to capture who I am.’
 |
| Lola Graham-Wiggins, ‘Hopelessness: Lower your white flag’, photographic print on paper. |
‘When I look at this photo I just see an absolute bombardment of messages, expectations, and statements of identity that are hitting young people, and their response is just being in a state of flux, and uncertainty, and sort of shifting between “What is truth?”, “Where is home?”, “Who is helpful here?”, “What is helpful?”, and “Where should I focus?”, “Who am I?” But then this incredible backdrop of a huge strong tree that speaks of this primal stability and life, and nature, and the cycle of life that always has rhythm and has strength . . . and this beautiful contrast that shows both the troubling issues of our time, and yet the hopeful message that is in our world that if we just open our eyes and see it, we’ll find peace and hope.’
 |
| Lola Graham-Wiggins, 'Confusion: Conformity vs. Individuality', photographic print on paper. |
Quotes from Lola
Graham-Wiggins and Brook Turner are from interviews with the writer, conducted
at the exhibition opening on 1 July 2015.
Full disclosure: the writer’s husband works as the Photography Course Coordinator for Zeal. Although trying to stay clear of bias, her support and passion for seeing teenagers express themselves will doubtless have influenced this writing. The models in these works have given permission for the photos to be reproduced here.
Full disclosure: the writer’s husband works as the Photography Course Coordinator for Zeal. Although trying to stay clear of bias, her support and passion for seeing teenagers express themselves will doubtless have influenced this writing. The models in these works have given permission for the photos to be reproduced here.
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