The No Town Project is a photographic archive documenting sites on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand that used to be towns but are now either no longer or only sparsely occupied.
Early settlers on the West Coast, both Maori and Pakeha, battled the environment they found themselves in to build communities and establish a presence on a strip of land that in the early days was difficult to get to, and difficult to remain in.
Many however did remain and communities grew, however as the resources dwindled often the communities did too. The West Coast now is littered with town sites that are either deserted, or have substantially diminished communities; the No Town Project is concerned with these sites.
The demise of these towns is recent enough that we can put ourselves in the place of these communities facing their own destruction; there are many communities around the world currently facing the same challenges. In 2014 the West Coast is a region still in the media for its battle with how the use of its resources can support its communities.
The No Town Project has been compiled by artist Caroline McQuarrie -
www.carolinemcquarrie.com. This is an ongoing project which will continue to have photographs added as more sites are documented, and existing sites re-visited - please visit again to check on our progress.
