MEDIA RELEASE:- Little known Otago landmark to feature in photographic exhibition in Perth

A little known Otago landmark just outside of Macrae’s Flat, in the hinterland of Otago, is to feature in a photographic exhibition in Perth in February.

Known by the locals simply as “the pig fence,” the landmark consists of over 300 animal hides and heads, predominantly pig, draped over an extended length of barbed-wire running along the side of the road.

The collection was started by farmer Ken Tisdale in 2001 and is now contributed to by many hunters and farmers (see Otago Daily Times, 8 January 2008, p. 6).

Dunedin based photographer Justin Spiers and University of Otago lecturer Jonathan W. Marshall have produces a series of images and commentaries dealing with the fence, which are to be exhibited at the Perth Centre for Photography in West Australia, 14 February - 31 March 2014.

The exhibition is provocatively titled Meat Fence. Marshall says, “Justin has been working on humans’ relationship with animals, nature and the landscape for some years now, and I began writing on his material and exchanging ideas when we were both based in Perth in 2006.”

“What attracted us to the fence was the way it expresses in stark terms our relationship to the land,” Marshall continues.

“We attack the landscape, we mine it, and we kill animals which compete with livestock like sheep—and we are all part of that.”

“What Justin has captured in these images is how much the hides look like the landscape itself. They’re covered in lichen, and dried brown in the wind, just like the tussock fields behind them. The photos are dark and melancholy, and quite beautiful, despite the morbid subject matter.”

Spiers and Marshall hope to bring the exhibition back to New Zealand in the future.

Justin Spiers + Jonathan W. Marshall Meat Fence Perth Centre for Photography 14 February - 31 March 2014 http://www.pcp.org.au/PCP_Exhibitions/PCP_Future_Exhibitions.aspx For more information, interviews, images, etc, pls contact:- jonathan.marshall@otago.ac.nz justin.spiers@gmail.com