Picturing the Peninsula, 21 April - 22 July 2007

Birdlings Flat / Poranui lies at the point where the 30 kilometre long Kaitorete Spit of gravel meets the southern end of Banks Peninsula. The gravel is washed down to the Pacific Ocean from the Southern Alps by the braided rivers to the south and ocean waves drive the gravel north along the Canterbury coast depositing it along Kaitorete Spit. Kaitorete spit was an important thoroughfare to the Peninsula for Māori as it bypassed the swampy route inland. This is one of Canterbury’s most spectacular beaches where tempestuous seas pound the shoreline.

Bruce Foster works as a freelance photographer and is interested in human impact on the land. He has worked in several locations on the Peninsula contrasting man-made and natural forms.