Show Notes
Hi, I’m Andy Spain, a commercial photographer and artist from Wellington, I interview photographic artists from Aotearoa / New Zealand. If you want to check out my work go to andyspain.nz and follow me on instagram at andyspain_photography.
Last week I spoke to Johanna Mechen.
I was first introduced to the work of Johanna at the excellent Slow Burn exhibition at Te Papa.
In a sea of photography and photographers, much of which I was familiar with, her moving image piece really caught my eye and left me a bit teary eyed.
The piece of work she was showing was Last Skye Boat Song, a mediative piece, based in the Hutt, with a domestic feel of suburban gardens and paddling pools, filmed in a carefully crafted and slow way.
The piece doesn’t give too much away but hints at changes coming across a family, new horizons, climate change, described as an essay film, a mediatation on motherhood.
Johanna speaks of the lyrics (Bonnie Prince Charlie evading capture dressed as a women), in reference to her Childs gender transition, her own menopause and the idea of it being the last lullaby she sang to her children before they were too old. All with the backdrop of covid. It’s full of Symbolism and her work is long form, taking years to produce, allowing that symbolism to show itself and rise to the top.
It’s part of the Te Papa collection and if you can get to Slow Burn before it closes I highly recommend it.
Johanna completed the work as part of her PHD at Massey University where she teaches.
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More from Conversations with NZ Photographers
Welcome to Conversations with New Zealand Photographers. I’m Andy Spain, a photographer from Wellington Aotearoa / New Zealand. I work with architects and others in that area photographing completed projects in the urban environment.
Welcome to Conversations with New Zealand Photographers. My name's Andy Spain. I'm an architectural photographer based in based in Wellington, Aotearoa, New Zealand. I work with architects and developers and construction companies and lots of other people involved in the architecture sector, photographing finished projects and the urban environment in general. This last weekend's been a great weekend in Te whanganui a tara Wellington with the Photo Book New Zealand Festival taking place, where people from all over the world have come to show photo books and meet up with photographers that you don't often get the chance to speak to. I had the opportunity to meet with two photographers to record a podcast, and the first one I'm dropping is the one with Erin Lee Photography, who has produced two incredible books that caught my eye at the festival. One was The Crimson Thread, and the other one was Legal Fiction. Both of them investigate the ongoing effects of colonization in Australia. She's originally from Rangiora in Otautahi Christchurch, but she moved to Australia. And they're just such beautiful books, full of depth and content and intelligence. she gave a talk as part of the festival, and I spoke to her after that. So, do like and subscribe and tell people to listen and check out ErinLeePhotography.com and AndySpain.nz, and follow us on Instagram, and I hope you enjoy this conversation which I recorded this morning on the 10th of August at Te Matapehi in Wellington. Thanks. Bye. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A great conversation with Kate van der Drift. Cameraless Photography. Waikato. Raglan, Aotearoa, New Zealand, Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Thanks for listening to this episode of conversations with New Zealand photographers. I’m recording this intro on the 4th May 2026
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