Theresa Lee, Bygone (PLACES 2025)

Long exposure reveals metaphoric ghosts flowing through the Mataura River’s industrial past. Mataura is situated in New Zealand’s Southland region and long ago was a place employing workers in the paper mill and meat processing industries. Today, with only a population of 1,740, it’s become a place most people pass through. Grainy black and white creates an imagined place of old but the overhead power lines soon jolt us back to reality.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.