The Terrible Boredom of Paradise

Derek Henderson

8 Jun 2020 — 27 Jun 2020

“These photographs were my first real attempt at doing a series of images which I could make into a book. I wanted to recreate the feeling I had as a child in the back seat of my parents car, driving somewhere we had not been to before on our summer holidays”.

“The side window of the back seat of the car was a kind of frame I saw everything through. That side window was replaced by my 4x5 field camera I had bought in London where I was living in 2003. The result was a journey around New Zealand in the Summer of 20003/04. I traveled 13,000km over 4 and half months”.

“These are a selection of the images I collected”.

Derek Henderson, 2020.

Works from this series sit in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) and the Christchurch Art Gallery.

341 Pa Road Whangara, East Cape. 12.20pm 1st, April 2004

4 Wansbeck Street, Oamaru, Otago. 8.05pm 16th February 2004

Barrow Street, Bluff, Southland. 8.30pm 22nd February 2004

Bright Street, Cobden, West Coast. 7.20pm 25th February 2004

Carrol Street, Wairo, Hawke’s Bay. 3.52pm 31st March 2004

Dover Street, Orepuki, Southland. 2.45pm 23rd February 2004

Fraser Smith Road, Awakino, King Country. 12.40pm 6th March 2004

From Linnet Street looking east, Taihape, Rangitikei. 2-15pm 2nd March 2004

Haast Beach Motor Camp, Haast, Jackson Bay Road, West Coast. 8.00pm 23rd February 2004

Haast, Jackson Bay Road, West Coast. 7.00pm 23rd February 2004

Hall Street, Dannevirke, Hawke’s Bay. 7.10pm 9th March 2004

Kereta Bay, State Highway 25, Thames, Coromandel. 4.10pm 3rd April 2004

King Street, Hikurangi, Northland. 2.00pm 8th April 2004

Kohaihai Road, North Beach, West Coast 10.30am 9th February 2004

Kurama, State Highway 73, West Coast. 3.05pm 27th February 2004

O Te Ika Marae, Mckinnon Road, McNab, Southland. 3.12pm 19th February 2004

Oaro, State Highway 1, Canterbury. 6.15pm 29th February 2004

Palmerston Street, Westport, West Coast. 6.05pm 2nd February 2004

Palmerston Street, Westport, West Coast. 6.25pm 2nd February 2004

Punino, State Highway 45, Taranaki. 10.55am 7th March 2004

Ratana Church, Te Puke Marae, Ohakune to Raetihi Road, Raetihi, Rangitikei, Whanganui. 6.49pm 10th March 2004

Raukokore, State Highway35, East Cape. 11.10am, 2nd April 2004

Reefton Domain Motorcamp, Ross Street, Reefton, West Coast. 8.45pm 26th February 2004

Settlement Road, Otira, West Coast. 6.30pm 27th February 2004

South Road, Manaia, Taranaki. 6.28pm 7th March 2004

State Highway 4, King Country. 12.50pm 3rd March 2004

Te Uri Ohina Marae, Kaitaia, Awaroa Road, Northland. 12-30pm 7th April 2004

Tyne Street, Oamaru, otago 8.05pm. 16th February 2004

Waihau Bay, State Highway 35, East Cape. 10.30am 2nd April 2004

State Highway 1, Awarua, Southland. 9.30pm 22nd February 2004