Bob Kerr: The Intersection 11 October - 5 November
At daybreak on Sunday 21 February 1864, Colonel Marmaduke Nixon led an attack on the undefended settlement of Rangiaowhia. The inhabitants took refuge in the two churches and their whare. The thatch of one whare was set alight. An unarmed, elderly man came out with a white blanket raised above his head. He was killed by a hail of bullets. Two more M-aori attempting to escape from the fire met the same fate. Twelve M-aori were killed, including women, children and the elderly. Five members of the British force died.
“I also arrived at Rangiaowhia on a Sunday morning. I wanted to paint it as it looks now. Where the whare stood is much like any other rural Waikato intersection. A blue road sign points to Kihikihi four kilometres away and to Te Awamutu six kilometres in the other direction. There are power poles, Give Way signs and a white wooden crash barrier. Neatly clipped hedges mark out phosphate green paddocks dotted with English trees. Nearby is the Rangiaowhia War Memorial Domain commemorating the First World War, The Second World War, The Korean War and the Vietnam War. Recently a plaque has been added to acknowledge the Waikato Wars and the deaths in the paddock next door.”
This exhibition coincides with Te Putake o te Riri, the National commemoration of the land wars on the 28 October.
Bob Kerr was born in Wellington and has a DipFA (Hons) from The University of Auckland. He has written and illustrated a number of children’s books, receiving the Best First Children’s Book Award in 1993 for The Optimist (1992). His paintings are held in private collections across New Zealand and overseas, with his best-known work appropriately appearing on the cover of Michael King’s book, The Penguin History of New Zealand (2003).
WHITESPACE, 20 Monmouth Street, T: 09 361 6331, www.whitespace.co.nz
#artweek #onlyponsonby #community #arts #ponsonbynews #iloveponsonby #ponsonby #auckland #aucklandshippestrip #onlyponsonby #whitespace