Kim Guthrie

River’s Edge / Haunt

The images of this installation evoke a mixture of feelings, and elicit layers of reflections, which feel inevitable when viewing such a powerful work as this one by Kim Guthrie.

Johns Landing is a beautiful piece of land with immense and imposing trees, by the river’s edge, and it feels like such a generous gesture of the Johns to have shared this place with the residents. It feels as though the abundance of nature may have offered the necessary support in the assembling and stability for residents’ homes. The land feels remote and isolated yet peaceful, which may have offered a place for residents to retreat and/or escape to. However, the personal experience of those residing on the land remains unknown.

One of our foundational requirements in life is to have a safe and stable home. This fundamental issue is accentuated through Kim’s work. The images captured of residents and some of their possessions feels very intimate, deeply personal and vulnerable, and one can only imagine that deep respect and care was taken throughout the process. The documentation of this moment in this community inevitably raises the awareness of the continued issue of affordable housing. It brings a sense of visibility to not only the human element, but also to this often-hidden issue.

The scale of the confronting and insightful images, integrated within the environment, evokes feelings of temporariness. There’s something deeply potent about the images being installed back on the very land where the residents once lived, mixed with the visible remnants of time passed.