Artist's statement
These images came from a time when I was using the train service a lot and I became aware of how the land around the tracks were a type of terrain vague, a semi wild unmonitored zone where young people would go, do their thing and just hang out. There was widespread commodification going on in Tamaki at the time and these landscapes were a space that provided an opposite if not equal response.
About the artist
Allan McDonald is a lecturer in photography at Unitec, Te Whare Wānanga o Wairaka. He works with an archive of images spanning more than 50 years from which he curates narratives of social history and place. These often appear as small publications, most recently Between the Silence and the Flame 2016, Carbon Empire, 2017, The Holding 2020 and Viewshaft 2024. Carbon Empire won the New Zealand Photobook of the Year Award. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Auckland Art Gallery, Te Papa and the Chartwell Collection.
He is represented by the Anna Miles Gallery in Auckland.