Young Artists’ Group Exhibition
Responses to 2020
Photographs by Nathan Hall

The Empty Spaces

'I couldn’t photograph people. Either… they weren’t around, they were keeping their distance, or they were visibly on edge. 2020 was the year of isolation. In the brief and intermittent interludes out of my home, I struggled. How could I record this time, when my usual subject matter was absent? I like photographing people, it’s what I do.  However, the empty spaces, abandoned shop windows and hastily written messages were the perfect record.'

Nathan Hall is a 23 year old photography enthusiast raised in Gisborne, now living in Wellington. He uses his spare time to document the streets and social/political movements of New Zealand. He loves using analogue, as it adds another level of history to an image – and the process has helped him develop as a photographer and has become baked into what he does. He uses his background in design (as he studied this at Massey for 4 years) to guide his work, his compositions and the way he tells visual stories. It is his ambition to develop a personal archive of Wellington – that when looked back on, will have captured the essence of the time – particularly historical significant events/movements (with COVID being a great example).

Young Artists 2021 gallery exhibition

1. Nathan Hall - Responses to 2020 - Young Artists 2021

2. Nathan Hall - Responses to 2020 - Young Artists 2021

3. Nathan Hall - Responses to 2020 - Young Artists 2021

4. Nathan Hall - Responses to 2020 - Young Artists 2021

5. Nathan Hall - Responses to 2020 - Young Artists 2021

6. Nathan Hall - 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.