Aipotu: Love Will Tear Us Apart (2004)

Sue Crockford Gallery, Auckland

Between 1923 and 1932 the Ross Sea Whaling Company of Sandefjord, Norway, made nine expeditions to the Ross Sea in Antarctica, using an overwintering base located in Paterson Inlet, Stewart Island, New Zealand. In 1927, following the Modernist architecture style, they built a pier with workshop, engine room and machine room plus managers quarters. In 1930, a glut of whale oil and the need for it declined rapidly during the economic depression. In 1932 the Norwegians returned home never to return to Stewart Island. Aipotu: Love Will Tear Us Apart is inspired by a week-long visit to this abandoned Whalers Base. The exhibition consists of a series of large colour photographs entitled Aipotu: Psychogeographies; a blackboard map of Stewart Island and; a computer animation accompanied with a mixed-up soundtrack - Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart performed by the string quartet.