Ghosts of the Past: Jeremy Bright

18 o Pēpuere – 7 o Mei 2023

I te 2009, i te hāereere te kaiwhakaahua o Taupō, a Jeremy Bright, i Te Wairarapa, kātahi ia ka hipa i te Hōhipera o mua o Waipukurau - he whare kua whakarērea i te huarahi o Pōrangahau. Ka tū ia ki te āta titiro, ā, ka pūāwai te hiahia, ki reira hoki atu ai mō te tekau tau ki te kapo i te wāhi rā.

He mea kōwhiri ngā whakaahua o tēnei whakaaturanga i ngā whakaahua whā mano neke atu i kapohia e Bright o te hōhipera. I aua whakaahua e toru ngā rangatira o te whare, ā, ka kitea te paenga i mua, i muri hoki i te ahi i te 2011, ko te nuinga o roto i wera.

Ka whakaatu ngā whakaahua a Bright i te whai wāhi a te tangata i ōnā wā – ngā rawa me ngā tūāhanga i whakamahia hei hāneaneatanga, waihoki, hei tiaki hauora, me ētahi tohu o tā te tangata whakamahi i te whare kua whakarērea hei wharau. Nōna e kapo ana i ngā whare, ka āta arohia e ia ngā ara i puta ai he wairua rerekē i ngā kino o te wā, o te whakamahinga me te whakakino.

I whakatūria te hōhipera i te 1879, ā, i āta whakawhanakehia i roto i te 80 tau. Ka tae ki te puku o ngā 1960, i whanake kia whai wāhi tētahi whare whakahaere, ngā wāri tūroro tauroto e rua, he whare mātāpuputu, he taiwhanga hāpara, he taiwhanga hihi-X me te haumanu korikori, he taiwhanga, he whare tūpāpaku, he whare kōhanga me tētahi whare tapuhi, he akomanga anō hoki.

I katia te hōhipera i te 1999. I hokona kia whakawhanakehia, ka noho kanukanu te paenga mō ngā tau 20 neke atu. Kua turakina te nuinga o ngā whare ināianei, ka mutu, kua tāpuia rā te whenua mō te whakatū whare.

Ko tā Bright mō āna mahi “he mauhanga motuhenga o tētahi wāhanga o te hītori o te rohe”

Ko Jeremy Bright he kaiwhakaahua nō Essex, i Peretānia, ā, e mahi ana, e noho ana hoki ki Taupō.

18 Feb – 7 May 2023

In 2009, Taupō-based photographer Jeremy Bright was travelling through to the Wairarapa when he drove past the old Waipukurau Hospital – a group of disused buildings on Pōrangahau Road. He stopped to look closer, sparking a decade’s worth of regular visits documenting the site.

The hospital was founded in 1879 and closed in 1999. Originally sold to be developed, the site sat dilapidated for more than 20 years. Most of the buildings are now demolished and the land is currently earmarked for a housing project.

Bright’s images show different traces of human presence – objects and infrastructure used to provide comfort and medical care, along with signs of people who used the abandoned hospital as temporary shelter. In documenting the buildings, he was particularly interested in the ways in which they were taking on a different persona through the damaging effects of time, use and vandalism.

Bright describes this body of work as “a documentary record of a small part of local history”.

Jeremy Bright is a photographer originally from Essex, UK, and lives and works in Taupō.