Next Life

This series is about my daughters as they enter into intermediate school, a liminal moment in life between childhood and teenager. At their age I was spun out, grasping for identity and outside of the culture that surrounded me in Bountiful, Utah. I remember myself waiting, a lot. For school to end. For my dad to come pick me up for the weekend. For something to come along and give me a nudge to what’s next. My daughters are discovering the music of my teen years and are becoming independent beings. Inspired by the photography of britpop groups in the late 90s, I wanted to capture that cool restraint that hides the frightening emotions that overwhelm at this age. Suburban Birkenhead at night, lit by car lights and flash photography, captures the unease not knowing what’s next and the power of youth. These glossy large size prints show the large, centred subjects with domestic and suburban nightscapes.

About the artist: Michael North is an award-winning film writer, cinematographer and director who has worked in as an editor and producer in the New Zealand Film and Television industry and has a decade of experience teaching film and television production. His photography work explores the line between moving and still image, point of view, and narrative. Michael has worked in Aotearoa, Japan, China and the United States on a variety of narrative and documentary productions. Michael’s short film Parasites (2016) won the Geoff Evans Prize and screened at the Berlin Down Under Film Festival. His short documentary Inked in Tradition (2016) was produced in Beijing, China as part of the Looking China programme. He currently works as the Academic Programme Manager for the Bachelor of Performing and Screen Arts at Unitec in Auckland-Tamaki Makaurau.