Bridging the suburbs of Cannon’s Creek and Whitby, photographic artists David Cook and Leala Falesuega have worked with students of two schools and their local communities to offer new views of each, and articulate their shared visions for the future – 2020. Building on Cook and Tim J Velling’s acclaimed Freeville School Project (TEZA 2013) Cook and Falesuega explore a collective documentary process with the merging of photographs, moving image, words and drawings, producing large public presentations of the work, culminating in its presentation in the windows of The Old McDonalds, 1 Cobham Court.

Click here for a blog documenting the process.

David Cook is a photo-documentary storyteller who traces the journeys of communities and ecologies as they face big challenges. His 20 year Rotowaro project looked at the relocation of an entire mining village, resulting in the publication ‘Lake of Coal’, a finalist in the 2007 Montana NZ Book Awards. Recently David revisited his hometown of Christchurch, participating in a TEZA project where he and Tim J. Veling collaborated to make a billboard art project with a primary school located in post-earthquake New Brighton. David is based in Wellington and lectures in photography at Massey University’s College of Creative Arts.

Leala Faleseuga is a student at Whitireia, undertaking the GradDip Applied Arts (Photography). She is also a graduate of Victoria University (BA Pacific Studies) and an online tutor for The Photoschool. Leala’s art practice is founded in (but not limited to) photography, and she is interested in the power of art to tell stories, uncover the past and as visual research. Leala is a Levin native, and lives there currently with her son and whanau.