It snows in winter

It snows in winter: Remembering Waiuta

The abandoned township of Waiuta is a remote official historic site in Aotearoa New Zealand, run by the Department of Conservation and community group Friends of Waiuta. First settled when a goldmine opened in 1905, the community of 600 almost all moved away when the mine closed in 1951. ‘It snows in winter’ incorporates my photographs of three ways we remember the town; the historic site itself, a model village constructed in 2007 and glass plate negatives of the town made by miner/photographer Joseph Divis from the national archive collection in the Alexander Turnbull Library.

My job is collection, not recollection. These are not my memories, but rather an attempt to gather and reflect. This was once a town, but it was not my town. To me it feels like a memory, and it will be tied in with some real things. I know the freedom of growing up in an out of the way place (not far away actually) before you’ve realised that’s where you are. But in reality I’m feeling nostalgia; for something real, and at the same time something I never had. No community was ever so perfect.

Waiuta is a reminder of the disruptive influence of socio-economic shifts. Reminiscent of small communities in many countries which were abandoned as extractive industries took what they needed and moved on, the workforce trailing behind. What is an historic place if not a repository for nostalgia? ‘It snows in winter’ weaves together the ways we collectively choose to remember. Historical photographs, historic sites and vernacular re-creations are coalesced.

Caroline McQuarrie is a contemporary artist and photographer who lives in Aotearoa New Zealand. Curiosity about what is tangible and what is intangible, what traces remain, and whose lived experiences are valued enough to be recorded are strong drivers for her practice.