Arles, as seen by ...

“I was born in a small rural service town south of Auckland the largest city in New  Zealand, shortly after the end of the Second World War. My father had not long returned from his war posting to Egypt. My parents were farmers, so my formative years were spent on their small hill country farm raising sheep and cattle. 

Later, as I entered my teenage years, my family purchased a farm near Kaitaia, in Northland, the very north of New Zealand. Growing up in a rural environment fostered a remarkable and joyful sense of freedom, and great opportunities to dream, explore, build and create. I was immersed in stunningly beautiful, rugged rural landscapes, lorded over by vast, ever-changing skies. To quote my Professor, the late Colin McCahon, ‘I saw something logical, orderly and beautiful belonging to the land and not yet to its people.’ I love such timeless beauty, and the visual drama of these memories has become the very core of all my artistic endeavors. 

I am an artist-photographer by serendipity, and my creative work owes as much to my artistic background as it does to photography. As a country boy with little idea of the horizons he would open to me, I stumbled into a high school art class run by an inspiring teacher, Selwyn Wilson. I graduated from the Elam School of Fine Arts with Honours in Painting. My Professors, Garth Tapper and Colin McCahon encouraged me to study the work of the ‘Old Masters’ as a guide for my practice. 

While Northland’s landscapes feature throughout my work, opportunities to study in France have given me first-hand experience of the great French, Italian and Dutch traditions, and the chance to become totally immersed in the ‘French Landscape’. It fascinates me to be inspired by the same landscapes and subject matter that have been drawn, painted and photographed by artists for hundreds of years.”

Kenneth Adams, Whangarei, New Zealand.