‘Dead’ sculpture finds new life
A sculpture that fell off an earthquake-damaged cliff has a new home after being rescued from a rubble pile.
The sculpture, by Christchurch artist Graham Bennett, was in the garden of developer Philip Carter on Kinsey Tce above Peacocks Gallop. The June 2011 earthquake sent the sculpture and parts of Carter’s house tumbling down the cliff.
The seven-metre tall sculpture was buried for five years until it was found.
Carter donated the damaged sculpture to the Canterbury Museum, which has installed it as an exhibit in the Quake City attraction.
Bennett said it was strange for the sculpture to have a second life as a museum piece.
‘‘I am getting used to it being a museum piece and that far more people will see it dead than they did alive. It was a private sculpture so very few people saw it up close. Hundreds of people will be able to see it now. It’s a bit strange. I was just thinking of all those hours of polishing the steel.
‘‘I wouldn’t call it an art piece now. It’s an ex-art piece.’’
The sculpture is twisted and warped, with marks from the diggers that excavated it from its resting place at the base of the cliff.
Bennett thought the sculpture was going to remain on the cliff top forever. ‘‘I don’t have an emotional attachment to it. You do think of all the work and when you make something as substantial as this you imagine it is going to be forever.’’
Quake City exhibitions manager Neil Phillips said the sculpture told a story about the Canterbury earthquakes.
‘‘It is another story about personal loss over the period of the earthquakes, but now the artwork has changed its meaning and it represents rising from the rubble. There is a bit of hope there,’’ he said. ‘‘It adds to our collection for the community years down the track. It is a big example of that loss.’’ A former clothing store worker has claimed a Black Power member threatened her family on the orders of her boss.
At an Employment Relations Authority hearing in Auckland yesterday, Kalpana Nandni said the man knocked on the door of their home late at night, brandishing pictures of her family including her young son. He had white skin and multiple tattoos, including the words ‘‘Black Power’’ across his face, she said.
He told her and her husband that they should not attend an employment case and proceed with their complaint about wages owed. ‘‘He did mention, ‘look, you people are really in danger, some people are after you and if you do go to attend the case something bad could happen to you and it’s better if you don’t attend’.’’
The man then walked down the driveway and returned with two pictures of the family, which he said he had been given by the people who had hired the gang.
Despite the threat Nandni said the man was reasonably friendly and appeared to soften at one point when her young son walked into view. ‘‘He said, ‘I’ve got a family too and I’ve gone through that process when people are hassling us so I know what it feels like’’.’’
The man told her to call her former employer and inform them that the gang had visited and done its job, describing the person who had hired them.
Nandni worked for three years at a clothing store owned by Neelam Ahuja, Chirag Ahuja and Rhythm Ahuja. In a previous authority decision, Nandni and three other staff were awarded $68,782 after a ruling that the Ahujas had not paid the minimum wage. The decision is being appealed.
The three chose not to give evidence at the hearing, which was to determine if there had been an attempt to obstruct proceedings, but they deny they organised for the gang to visit. The decision was reserved.