Hope Street is a series of postcards that were made as part of my third year at Ilam School of Fine Arts. At this time I felt a disconnection between myself and the place in the world I was inhabiting, Hope Street explores this disconnection through familial relationships and the attachment of memory to place.

My father was born and raised in Christchurch, leaving after graduating from Lincoln University to work for the Department of Conservation in South Westland. Early on in this project I believed that through exploring places that were significant to him I could potentially find a deeper connection with Chistchurch; find a sense of belonging through familial connection. It quickly became evident, however, that these places were not mine and I could not orchestrate a personal connection that was not there.

The work soon took me beyond the city limits and back to the West Coast, where I had grown up. Through conversations with my parents and extended family, I began to learn things I couldn’t Google. Places I had only given a cursory glance as a child had histories attached that previously I could have only guessed at.

Christchurch may never feel like my home, but gaining a deeper insight into my family history helped me find a place to stand.