Remembering Forward

Through a mysterious suite of portraits and carefully staged group compositions, photographer Russ Flatt (Ngāti Kahungunu) explores the delicate complexities of youth and adolescence.

Set against rich local landscapes from around Waitākere, 'Remembering Forward', presents the vulnerability that comes with growing up.

Teetering on the verge of childhood and teenagerhood, his subjects play out the dynamics of friendship, personal identity and belonging. Simultaneously, the photographs incorporate a range of modes and points of view in order to recover and reconstruct memories and past events. As part of Flatt’s wider practice, they look towards a re-imagined past to recognise the present.

Remembering Forward is part of the Auckland Festival of Photography 2022.