Rest Areas New Zealand 2010 - 2012
Highway rest areas represent the imagination, aspirations and reality of the communities that create them - each being a tiny territory that reflects who we are as a nation, a bureaucracy and a people. Rest areas embody New Zealanders' reputation for hospitality by welcoming all to take a break amidst facilities ranging from slum-like to regal splendour. They are probably the most visited feature of our highway network, and the most taken for granted. The creation of rest areas at picturesque locations reflects our wish to impress; and grand pillared notice boards proclaim the region's histories and attractions. But often these structures stand derelict - monuments to the difficulty we have maintaining the image we would like others to have of us. But monuments are something we are good at, and rest areas allow us to immortalize road engineers and surveyors on blocky, indestructible monoliths that echo their reputed lack of imagination. Sometimes there is an elegant, soaring needle but mostly the monuments are a cubic metre of concrete that glowers 'don't muss with me' at any hoon tempted to give it a nudge with his Nissan Skyline. In this land of artists, artisans and craft markets the picnic tables at rest areas are a nationwide installation. They are like the exhibition where artists are sent a blank canvas to adorn in accordance with their creative mores. Except it is the local engineer, carpenter or workman who has been tasked with producing a seat and table from available materials. Their infinitely variable creations strut, stagger, brood or preen in anticipation of the next al fresco diner. The chooks that populate rest areas reveal us as a nation of softies, too squeamish to dress them out for the dining table. And so we release them to a fat existence, courtesy of kind-hearted motorists. Many rest areas were designed by the New Zealand Transport Agency, which behaves proprietorially by turning them into gravel dumps or road-working machinery parks. Signs proclaiming the good work of community groups clutter rest areas, and others erected by the local authority prohibit the dumping of rubbish, often right next to overflowing bins that the council has failed to empty. Then there is the bizarre, the zany, the practical and the puzzling - features that appear to celebrate the eccentric in our midst. Constructions whose uses defy comprehension by the lay visitor; creations of maverick artists; features erected to celebrate local attractions; naturally-occurring oddities; and the useful. This series is a serious look at an unstudied subject in images ranging from dark and mysterious to humorous and cheerful.