They say : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract

They Say is a response to the often-homogenised rhythms of life that are experienced by those who are raised in small town or rural Aotearoa. Self-reflexive in its methodology They Say utilises photography to mediate the discourse between the external and my own internal abstractions of the world, concerning itself with lyrical forms of storytelling and adapting techniques from the literary genre of magical realism, They Say navigates the line between documentary truth and narrative fiction. The visual research conducted throughout this study aims to identify how photography can be used as a tool to subvert the construction of mythologies pertaining to the development of young men in rural Aotearoa. I have developed a methodology that explores how portraiture, constructed collaboration and exploratory imagery, can begin to weave new narratives from the threads bared by those photographed. Birthed from the traditions of documentary photography, They Say dismembers itself from the quest for objective truth, and instead visually adopts a “documentary style” approach that is concerned with literary modes of working such as narrative development. They Say melds influences such as magical realism, rural gothic, and the epic banal. Through its meditation on these themes, They Say becomes a layered and complex narrative, that through its ambiguity and extraordinary sensationalisation of everyday life in rural New Zealand disturbs the understanding of what it means to be a product of rural Aotearoa.