Gil Eva Craig - 'On Heterotopian Boundaries'

'On Heterotopian Boundaries' - photographs by Gil Eva Craig - showing at Photospace Gallery, Wellington, from 14th May to 11th June, 2016

For the last few years I have been photographing the un-defined areas on the edges of spaces, both material and un-material. These are the physical areas of transition where a space ends, sometimes abruptly or transitions to either an ‘other’ space or to a ‘non’ space, and, also as an observer or outsider on the boundaries of the sociocultural constructs within spaces.
 
I came across the term Heterotopia while researching ideas related to defining spaces and non-spaces.
 
Heterotopia is a spatial construct that was outlined in a tantalisingly sparse manner by Michel Foucault, most famously in a talk to a group of architects in France in 1966. In this talk, he described certain spaces as ‘heterotopian’, in that they conformed to a set of loosely defined relational principles.  Heterotopias include, and are not limited to, spaces such as libraries, hotels, performance spaces, festivals, gardens, cemeteries, religious sites, institutions and gated communities. The heterotopian construct has been interpreted beyond physical spaces to include cyberspaces, and abstract concepts of reality and unreality.
 
The areas I photograph can be loosely categorised as follows:
 
- Troubled and un-functional boundaries where things go from order to disorder: for example the edges of hotel strips and malls where responsibility for the care of these areas is unclear, or the areas are neglected. Often these areas become accidental collection points for lost, forgotten and unwanted things, or dumping grounds.
 
- Functional and beautiful boundaries, where the order of one space slips gracefully into the next, such as cared for public spaces merging into scared spaces, or slips from human construction into nature.
 
- Observations on the boundaries of socio-cultural constructs within heterotopian spaces, such as being non- Buddhist in Buddhist temples, or as an outsider on a golf course, or as a non-participant at a festival. 
 
I have been working on this material for the past four years. The images were taken in New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, Japan, Nepal, England and Scotland.

www.artmurmurs.nz/art-murmurs/may-25th-2016- Review by Aimee Smith fr Art Murmurs


'Statue' - Gil Eva Craig

'Green ball' - Gil Eva Craig

'2 lights' - Gil Eva Craig

Artist bio - Gil Eva Craig

I've been  involved in the creative arts since the early 90's, primarily as a sound designer for alternative and mainstream theatre , as a sound engineer/ producer, and as a performer.  I’m  working as a live sound engineer as I further my creative practice in photographic and sonic arts.
 
Group exhibitions:
'17 Projects' ('Loam' series), Photospace Gallery, Wellington, Jan. 2013
'Prevailing Light' ('Leavings' series I and II), Photospace Gallery, March 2014
Auckland Festival of Photography exhibition, Black Asterisk, Auckland, 2015
'4 Photographers', Photospace Gallery, Wellington, June 2015.
 
Also in 2014, I  had work shown in three group shows  at The New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts in Wellington; 'The Longest Night' , 'F+F+F' and 'GASP', an exhibition of work by emerging artists from Wellington and Christchurch. 

www.gilevacraig.com