New Zealand photographer Wayne Barrar undertakes a photographic inquiry into commodified, artificial, underground spaces in his series and publication An Expanding Subterra (2002-2009).

Simultaneously futuristic and prehistoric, these spaces –mostly caves and mines in the USA, Australia, New Zealand and France – have been re-purposed for a variety of commercial and domestic uses. From 2002 to 2009, Barrar photographed underground sites, including power stations, underground archives, nuclear-waste stores, post-mining habitations (with office complexes, leisure spaces, and residential spaces), and even a tourism facility. Devoid of people and artificially lit, his photographs have a still, alienating, otherworldly ambience, as they address the industrialisation of nature and the politics of land use.

Wayne Barrar (born 1957, Christchurch) graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the University of Canterbury in 1979, a Post-Graduate Diploma of Fine Arts from the University of Auckland in 1997 and a Master of Design degree from Massey University in 2005. He has published and exhibited widely and has undertaken several international artist residencies and been awarded many research grants.

Barrar’s works are held by public galleries as well as private and corporate collections in New Zealand and internationally. Wayne Barrar is an Associate Professor at the Whiti o Rehua School of Art, Massey University and lives in Wellington.