Mirror City is a deeply personal and lyrical exploration of
Harry Culy’s hometown, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington.
Made between 2018-2022, the photographs in this book
wander through a nondescript urban landscape, recording
scenes that oscillate between the mysterious and mundane.
Enigmatic graffiti, tangled vines and wires, cracked glass,
boarded-up doorways and portraits of the young people
who live here — these moments are punctuated with private
iPhone notes and observations, domestic reminders, and
lists. Arranged in sequence, the photographs and text in
this book form a dreamlike narrative that rejects any sort
of definitive conclusion. It instead looks for patterns and
rhythms that may echo the fragility of belonging, and the
uncertain future facing us.
From the artist:
'After spending much of my late teens and twenties living
overseas, I came back to this place which represented
home for me. On my return, I encountered an eerie feeling—
'home' felt strangely unfamiliar. This prompted a desire to
explore this uncanny sense of simultaneous belonging and
non-belonging, through photographing the next generation
of young people living here, and the landscape they inhabit,
as a way to picture what home might mean to me now.'
Linen hardcover with tipped-in photo
Offset printed with 58 duotone plates
202 x 250 mm, 100 pages
Design by Sam Fraser and Harry Culy
Co-published by PhotoForum and designated as
PhotoForum 100