Young Artists’ Group Exhibition
Responses to 2020
Photographs by George Staniland

'I spent the 2020 lockdown with seven of my family members in the same house (7 including me ). The night before the lockdown, my older sister, her husband and her week-old baby rushed to move into my parent’s house. They needed our support at that time. And my mum couldn’t bear the thought of being separated from her new granddaughter, and my sister.

'It was an emotionally intense time for my sister and her young family. For me, it was a time of safety. Where we privilege to not have financial pressures or livelihoods that were destroyed by Covid. It was also a time of containment ( it was a strict lockdown ) and a feeling of stuckness. Love, family and boredom.

'I tried to make a project about clouds that year, it remains unfinished. So I have no defined project, but here’s a collection of what I saw in 2020, during the lockdown, and the months following.'

George Staniland graduated with a Bachelor of Design from Massey University in 2016. Since then he has lived in Melbourne for three years before returning to Wellington. He currently works as a Web Developer while continuing photography as an art practice.

Young Artists 2021 gallery exhibition

1. George Staniland, Responses to 2020 - Young Artists 2021

3. George Staniland, Responses to 2020 - Young Artists 2021

5. George Staniland, Responses to 2020 - Young Artists 2021

2. George Staniland, Responses to 2020 - Young Artists 2021

4. George Staniland, Responses to 2020 - Young Artists 2021

6. George Staniland, Responses to 2020 - Young Artists 2021

This series of photographic work was submitted for the Young Artists' 2021 group exhibition but was not selected for the gallery exhibition of printed photographs.