July Update, Understory

Kia ora family and friends,

The exhibition is over and I’ve done my best to soak in the experience and reflect on what went well and what we’ll do differently next time. RANGE has transformed from an exhibition into a collective of artists. Encouraged by the Auckland Festival of Photography awarding us the Exhibition Award for this year’s festival, we’re already planning an exhibition for next year’s festival.

If you haven’t had a chance to see Tessellations, you can read about the work and preview images here.

The same week we won the Exhibition Award, I learned I’d won a week-long writing residency and stipend at a beach bach (small holiday home) to the northwest of where I live, for my book-length memoir project in progress. It’s been a thrilling month! I’m SO excited about the residency. I head up there on the 20th of July.

I’ve also started a Substack called Understory as a container for exploratory writing and writing prompts. I built this to support a consistent writing practice for myself and the writers I know and to encourage play and experimentation, aiming for less control and more imagination. It’s intended to support writer’s at any stage of their practice.

The first prompt last week was Where to Begin? Brainstorms, timeline sketches and exploratory writing, and this week’s prompt is Still Frames: Working from photographs. Check it out if you’re interested.

It’s taken me a few weeks to settle back into a slower routine at home after the whirlwind that was May and June. I’m really looking forward to a week on my own with my draft on a wild west coast beach. I’ll share more once I’m there.

More soon xo

AMB