Wellington photographer Wayne Barrar questions the contemporary landscape and the way people interact with and re-define nature, with his recent photographic projects focussing on the loss of national and ecological environments and borders.

This series shows, in technicolour green, algal growth impact on a marine environment, albeit one of concrete conglomerate blocks. Until 1998, sewerage overflow was released into Moa Point’s coastal waters at the southern end of Wellington airport. These additional ‘nutrients’ caused an overgrowth of algae and the odourous area was nicknamed ‘Poo Point’. Moa Point’s waste-water treatment plant was later constructed, and now filtered, treated water is piped 1.8km into Cook Strait, with physical waste material going to the Southern landfill. Ecological historian Geoff Park writes that these images 'spring from a belief that living with the truth of our illusion is preferable to living with the illusion.’

Wayne Barrar (born 1957, Christchurch) graduated with a Bachelor of Science, University of Canterbury in 1979, a Post-Graduate Diploma of Fine Arts, Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland in 1996 and a Masters in Design, Massey University in 2005. Now Associate Professor at Massey University College of Creative Arts Wellington, Barrar has been awarded international and national art residencies, published major books and presented major exhibitions, with his work held in collections in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.