Sally Blundell has interviewed Sara McIntyre about her book Observations of a Rural Nurse for PhotoForum:
‘Places such as Kākahi,’ wrote Peter McIntyre, ‘may seem to be going backwards, even to be dying, but in a civilisation faced with disaster this may well be what will ultimately save them. At least in Kākahi, much of what makes life worth living has been preserved.’
It is unlikely McIntyre, war artist and prolific painter, was thinking of a novel virus when he wrote these words in 1973 but this small, former sawmilling town deep in King Country, the subject of so many of McIntyre’s paintings, has been a welcome sanctuary for his family in lockdown.
‘Like towns all over the world, when the sawmilling stopped, Kākahi stopped,’ says McIntyre’s daughter, Sara. ‘But it didn’t die. It is a lovely little community to live in and right now it feels even better. I feel lucky to have been here in the lockdown. We could still go to the store, there were conversations and phone calls. Our so-called bubble here is pretty idyllic at the moment – it is making us all feel far more appreciative of the place.’
Read the full interview on PhotoForum here.
