Survey Hamilton begins in AJ Seeley Gully
A three-year project documenting Hamilton kicks off this week with a slideshow by documentary photographer David Cook.
Wintec Media Arts staff are documenting Hamilton in a major study due for final release in 2013.
The project, Survey Hamilton, is a 3-year project kicked off this week with a photo-series on AJ Seeley Gully by lecturer David Cook.
AJ Seeley Gully is a special biodiversity reserve named after Dr Alwyn Seeley, who gifted the land to the public in 2004.
Survey Hamilton aims to build a multi-media archive of stories about the city and its people. It will be presented as an interactive website, along with exhibitions and, possibly, a publication.
Wintec lecturer David Cook said it can act as a way for people to reflect on things that are shaping the city.
“People can come and have a look back at the city from a certain point of time.
“Look at those everyday routine things, which are so much the wallpaper of life that we sometimes fail to see them.”
The project will be a survey of Hamilton living rooms, school life, shopping culture, working lives and factories
The feature on AJ Seeley Gully is part of the gully series in the project.
Dr Alwyn Seely purchased the land in 1960 and set about replenishing the gully by planting native species such as kanuka, totara, rimu, etc.
David Cook said it is a way of experiencing some of those human stories and how these places become special to the citizens of Hamilton.
“I wanted to explore these gullies through the eyes and minds and words of some of the people who’ve been associated with the gullies.
“So I decided to take a walk through the gully with Dr Seeley.”
AJ Seeley Gully is accessible from Armagh and Whyte streets in Hamilton East.
The Survey Hamilton involves Media Arts staff at Wintec.
Lecturers Mark Liu, Simon Nicholls, Stefanie Young, Joe Citizen and Mark Purdom are part of the Hamilton Survey project.
The Survey Hamilton website is expected to go live later this year.
Related Links –
To see more of David Cook’s phtography visit – http://www.davidcook.co.nz/
