Push for town sculpture
Momentum is growing for a climate change sculpture designed by a renowned Kerikeri artist to enhance the town’s currently underwhelming gateway.
For several years local hapu¯ Nga¯ti Re¯hia has been raising money for the sculpture, called Te Haa o te Ao ( The Breath of the World), which sculptor Chris Booth has designed to symbolise the town’s efforts to combat climate change.
Originally it was to have been built at the top of Bulls Gorge where a site blessing was carried out in 2014 by the hapu¯’s kauma¯tua.
More recently, starting just before the Covid19 lockdown, community group Our Kerikeri has come on board to help move the project along and the sculpture’s preferred site has changed to the junction of State Highway 10 and Kerikeri Rd.
Reasons for the new location include the difficulty of parking near Bulls Gorge and a desire to improve the main gateway to Kerikeri.
Currently the intersection is notable only for a random array of dilapidated billboards and a roundabout which is used as a doughnut pad by hoons, leaving a trail of tyre marks and broken road signs.
The sculpture — if it goes ahead — would consist of 55 boulders suspended on steel cables from a 10-metre-high post. The boulders would be allowed to hang freely or be raised by a collar and winch mechanism, signifying a state of tension with the environment.
The tension would be adjusted to symbolise the town’s commitment to combating climate change. The project would include communitydesigned and maintained landscaping of the rest of the intersection.
Funding is still being sought and, as always, will be the deciding factor.
The project was discussed behind closed doors by the Far North District Council last week. Although not a council project, if the sculpture goes ahead the council will end up owning and maintaining it.
A spokesman told the Advocate that the council “confirms its support for the creation of a sculpture located at the Kerikeri roundabout while recognising that the proposal is subject to funding, and the signing of an MOU with the four parties”. Because the site is on a state highway the NZ Transport Agency also has to agree.