Reviews For Real
Hooker Glacier $1,200 framed 950 unframed Status: Available
Mt Tasman $1,200 framed 950 unframed Status: Available
Tongariro National Park $1,200 framed 950 unframed Status: Available
Mount Cook $1,200 framed 950 unframed Status: Available
New Zealand $1,200 framed 950 unframed Status: Available
Wanaka Willow $1,200 framed 950 unframed Status: Available - Upcoming Exhibition
Mt Taranaki $1,200 framed 950 unframed Status: Available
Tane Mahuta $1,200 framed 950 unframed Status: Available
Whanganui River $1,200 framed 950 unframed Status: Available
‘Reviews for Real’
Sacha Lees
enquiries [email protected]
New Zealand, Aotearoa is a place of unparalleled natural beauty. Every year, billions of dollars are spent promoting New Zealand’s spectacular natural features as ‘once in a lifetime, must see.’ Our glistening coastlines, majestic alpine ranges and lush farmlands are lauded internationally, featuring in major cinematic films. New Zealand endures as a ‘bucket-list’ holiday destination.
When researching on my computer to find ‘the perfect’ Aotearoa spot for a holiday, I stumbled across the Five-Star-Review feature on Google that records opinions of popular destinations. The reviews scrutinise tourist destinations in the same manner we might review a product – a smartwatch, a scented candle, a vacuum cleaner. While sometimes hilarious, the lowest star reviews reflect an attitude towards our natural environment of disposability and entitlement. It reduces our whenua to mere commodity, a space provided solely for our entertainment. Reviewers, worryingly, appear not to care about the environmental, the cultural or historical values of each destination – rather what pleasure they might extract from it.
Discovery of the Google-Five-Star-Review feature caused me to ponder the meaning, power, and significance of these appraisals. It also provided a creative spark.
I digitally illustrated various idyllic tourist destinations, reimagining them as circa-1920’s Tourism New Zealand advertising posters, adopting similar font, layout, and the prevailing style of the time. I searched for the lowest star Google reviews for each destination and set comments – humorous, disparaging, enraged – against each ‘idyllic spot’ to create an idiosyncratic juxtaposition that elevates these promotional placards to a commentary on culture and various attitudes to the environment in a contemporary context.
I hope the result might encourage people to reconsider their relationship with the environment and pay more respect to the cultural or heritage value of each destination.
Sacha Lees is a multi-award-winning Artist based in Wellington, New Zealand. Her commercial work features on celluloid, in publications, on stamps and coins. Sacha’s Fine Art is held in prestigious collections world-wide and can be found in leading New Zealand galleries.