Creating in the red zone

Philippa and I were recently commissioned to make an environmental sculpture for Sustainable Coastlines, a national NGO working with volunteer community groups on riparian planting to improve and protect waterways.

Christchurch suffered so much loss from the earthquake in 2011 and now many housing areas in the red zone are simply gone. Only rough roads and street lamps are left as markers of what once were communities. The sculpture was made in one of these areas where the ground has subsided creating a wetland beside Anzac Drive where school groups were planting over a thousand natives.

We spent two days there making and positioning the sculpture in the shallow water to stand as a guardian for a while before it eventually decays and becomes part of the wetland from which it was made. Only the photographs will live on to tell the story.

Water Guardian