Description
Artwork info
“Kevin is Steve Christian’s first cousin and the first person I met on island. He is a born Pitcairn islander, but spent many years in New Zealand’s Air Force. In his early 60s, he made the decision to move back to Pitcairn to try to set up a business in order to bring an alternative funding and population stream into the island. His optimism was infectious, even if the realities of his plans seemed impossible to imagine.
Here, Kevin sits on his bed in his new home, Up Tibi (later renamed Kate Fence). On Pitcairn, building materials are in short supply and in high demand. It can take several years to gather all the necessary supplies due to cargo restrictions, the alternative is to take over an empty house when one becomes available. Up Tibi is the former home of one of Kevin’s distant relatives, a man who was convicted in the trials, Brian Young.
Brian is the only convicted man who has managed to leave Pitcairn permanently for New Zealand. It is a generally accepted fact, that the convicted men would be denied permanent settlement visas (and in some cases, even transit visas) due to the severity of their crimes, except for passage to the UK.
Apparently, Brian was allowed medical dispensation after a diabetes linked gangrenous infection resulted in the loss of a toe. There was some discussion between islanders that the toe incident was in part self-inflicted, when piles of unused prescription diabetes medication were found in his home.” – Rhiannon Adam
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CONTACT | tom@opendoors.gallery
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Big Fence / Pitcairn Island
The Pitcairn Islands are the last British Overseas Territory in the South Pacific. Pitcairn was permanently settled by the infamous Bounty mutineers and their Polynesian captives in 1790, and their descendents, now numbering fewer than 40, still live there today.
The tiny, isolated, volcanic island measures just two by one miles, is 400 nautical miles away from its nearest neighbour, and is the least populated jurisdiction in the world. Due to the infrequent supply ship schedule (the island’s only direct access), Rhiannon Adam was trapped on Pitcairn for three months, spending two of those living at Big Fence… READ MORE
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Artist Bio
Rhiannon Adam is a photographic artist, born in Cork, Ireland, in 1985. She currently lives and works between London and the US.
In 1992, her parents sold everything they owned and bought a live-aboard sailing boat, Jannes. From that point, her childhood became nomadic, moving from place to place, mainly around South America and the Caribbean. She eventually moved to London as a teenager to live her with aunt, enabling her to begin mainstream education. She later studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and at the University of Cambridge.
Adam’s work is centred on research-based, long-form, social documentary projects that make use of analogue photographic processes and archive materials, as well as her on-going obsession with Polaroid and the materiality of the photographic image. Her early life experiences have had a lasting influence on her work, with a focus on remote communities, the concept of utopia, and the fine line between fact and fiction… READ MORE
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