Documenting Recovery

While an exchange student in New Zealand, American Peter Hoffman, 27, discovered his passion for photography, and for the country. This year, Hoffman plans to return to Christchurch, where in February this year an earthquake decimated the city, and many people lost their lives. “When I’d heard that happened, I knew I had to go back down there and reconnect with the area — to try to tell the story of their recovery — and see if I can bring more attention to it in America,” Hoffman said. His goal is to spend about six weeks there, working on a photo essay that will deal with the year anniversary of the earthquake. In the past year Hoffman has done work for The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, as well as several publications in the UK.