Tellusabout‘BoyWalking’.Whois he
andwhereis hegoing?I trynottorefer
toBoyWalkingingenderedterms,so
I refertothesculptureasan‘it’,andthink
ofit simplyasa child.So,it’sa childthat’s
walking.Ratherthanjustaskingwhere
thefigureis going,thequestioncould
alsobe:wherehasit been?Movement
is betweendepartureandarrivaland
impliesa presentthat’salwaysshifting
fromthepastintothefuture.Childrenmay
relatetotheworkasinthestatetheyfeel
themselvesin(growing,experiencing).
Foradultsit mayevokethereturnto
eternalchildhood,whichis staticand
nostalgic,amongotherthings.
Yousayinspirationwasdrawnfrom
your 1995 ‘Mephitis’seriesofblack-
and-whitephotographicprints,which
is heldattheMuseumofNewZealand
TePapaTongarewa.Canyouexpand
onthis?WiththeMephitisseries,there’s
theimageofa figurewalking– a young
adult.Thisfigurewalksfromtheexterior
NewZealandlandscapeintoaninhabited
interior,withartonthewalls.Forme,
thisserieswasaboutthenarrativeof
arthistory,andourrelationshipwith
landscapeandabstractionwithin
a backgroundofpersonal,physical
relationships.Withthiswork,I was
playingwiththearchetypesofnarrative,
modernismandgender.Thewalkingfigure
fascinatedme– in reality,a smalllump
ofplasticthat,in context,strodethrough
theworld,headup,unaffectedand
self-contained.Whereit comesfrom
orwhereit’sgoingarenotimportant,
onlytheconstantrhythmofthewalk
is significant.Thisimageofcontinuous
movement,oftheeternalpresent,the
stasisofmemoryandthresholdsareideas
thatappearthroughoutmywork.AsI get
older,I thinkI understandthembetter.
Tellusaboutthe5.6-metrescaleand
howit cameabout.Scaleoperatesin
differentways.Forexample,wehaveJohn
Radford’stinyhouse(‘TheSoundofRain’,
a miniaturebronzevilla)verynear‘Boy
Walking’inPottersPark.OrI thinkofAlice
inAlice in Wonderland, growing large andTall order
RonnievanHout’sartwork
atPottersParkinMtEden,
Auckland,isa massive
undertaking in scale and skill.D:03 PUBLIC ARTthensmall.Beingbothlargeandsmall
relatetomemoryandfeelingswecan
havearoundchildhood.Whenwegrow,
ourrelativescaletothingsis always
changing,andouremotionalrelation
toobjectsandotherscanbefeltin our
bodiesasstatesofbeingbigandsmall.
Scalecanalsohavea practicalaspect
ofmakingsomethingstandout,ofbeing
seen,andofthespectacular.Inthiscase,
makinga childa giantcangivechildrena
senseofpowerandcontrolin theworld- makingchildhoodlargerthanlife;when
youarea kidthat’showit canfeel.
I likehowthesculpturechangesscale
fromdifferentviews,howit makesthe
treeslooksmall,andhowit canappear
likea toyandmonstrousatthesametime.
Howdoes‘BoyWalking’relatetothe
site?I didn’tchoosethesite,andwas
fairlyunawareofthecontextduringthe
makingphases.Theprocessofproducing
publicartis aboutcollaboration,and
theartistdoesn’tdetermineeverything.
I understandthecontextofa children’s
playground,andit’sverymucha parkfor
parentstoplaywiththeirchildren.I think
thesculpturerelatestotheparkasbeing
a signifierforchildren,thatthisis a space
forthem.Atthesametime,I feelit visually
evokeschildhood,andthememoryof
beinga child,thatwecanallrelateto.
Tellusaboutthe18-monthconstruction
process,whichtookplaceinNewZealand
andBrisbane,andthestructure.The
processformakingworklikethisappears
simple,butinvolvessomanystepsand
processes.Fromtheinitialidea,I had
a child3D-scannedintheposeofthe
walkingMephitisfigure.Thiswasdifficult
initself,asthechildhadtokeepstillfor
minutesina stridingpose.A 3Ddigital
versionofthescanis madeanddrivesa
CNCmachinetocutouta full-sizereplica
inpolystyrene.Thisprocessandall
fabricationwasundertakenbyUAP
(UrbanArtsProjects)inBrisbane.
Thereplicais madeinparts,likea
3Djigsawpuzzle,withaccommodation
fora steelarmaturethatsupports the
completed sculpture.
StridingthroughPotters
Parkin Auckland,
‘BoyWalking’blows
childhoodoutof
proportion.26 HOME NEW ZEALAND