helen mavoa: photo artist

I am from Aotearoa, New Zealand, and have spent much of my time in the South Pacific, and in Clayoquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, BC. These are all spaces to witness shore meeting sea and sky. I aim to provide a lens that gives the viewer an opportunity to re-imagine his/her place in the Universe. My interest in photography began at the age of 12 when my parents gave me a box Brownie camera. My pursuit of photographic images that evoke questions about relationships between people and their natural environments has expanded in the last few years when I have spent increasing time in Clayoquot Sound.

I first visited Clayoquot Sound in June 2012. Tla-o-qui-aht had stewarded this coast for around nine thousand years before I “discovered” it, or rather, it discovered me. I found many parallels with New Zealand; vestiges of primaeval forest, a coast that had been inhabited for thousands of years. These coasts that are steeped in spiritual Knowing retain a sense of mystery and magic, a place where time is determined by the ebb and flow of the tide, if we allow. The mystery of Clayoquot in that five-day visit led to me to making this my base for writing and for building my photography.

While most of my images are crafted with and through Nature, some explore form and function of the built environment. Increasingly, others capture moments with people whom I meet.