Manatu ki 'Api

For his Fale-ship Warren created a series of stunning blue-wash, largescale photographic portraits of his flatmates that, beyond being captivating images, hold a sense of community, collaboration and perseverance in their very creation. The prints reflect Warren’s practice of street photography, capturing uncontrived portraits of his subjects in their own homes. 

“I always had this vision of creating cyanotypes at a much larger scale than what I was used to seeing. The monotonous tone of the Prussian blue in cyanotypes enhance the depth and beauty of the portraits and I wanted to exaggerate that through the scale.”

Warren reflects on his practice and his Fale-ship residency and how it allowed him to bring a vision of large-scale cyanotypes to life. Hand printing these works presented significant challenges to a home-based practice during lockdown. Despite these challenges Warren stands by the belief that he is always meant to be where he is in life at any given time and this acceptance and resourcefulness is reflected in his residency. Using his flatmates as models and developing the photographs in a large tub in his backyard with natural light.

 “I think that beauty is a decision, an acknowledgement, self-reflection. You can breathe that acknowledgement and self-reflection into other people and you should do it more often. Because it costs you nothing.”

- Warren Paea