Baby seal at Kaimaumau

This large bronze work by Chris Booth is on display at Aotea – Te Pokapū | Aotea Centre in Auckland. 

I tūpono te ringatoi nei ki tētahi punua kekeno i mate i Kaimaumau, i Te Taitokerau. I hanga te whakapakoko mā te ringi i te matū rauwhero takawai ki te onepū i te wāhi i kite ai te kekeno. I āta whakatakoto atu, āmio nei, i ngā rau Nīkau me ngā kotakota ki te mahi toi. I whakamahi i ētahi rākau o te Mānuka, he rākau kaha kitea i Aotearoa, hei angaanga mō te tukutuku. “Ko tōku hiahia, kia kōrero tēnei whakapakoko i ngā hua kino kua pāngia ki tō tātou taiao e te tangata – ina koa, te kaiapoapotia o te moana”

The artist came across a dead baby seal washed up at Kaimaumau in Northland. The artwork was created by pouring melted silicon bronze on the sand where the seal was found. Nikau palm fronds and shells were placed around it. Manuka, a common New Zealand wood, was used for the splint framework which forms the grid.
 

“The comment I wanted the sculpture to make is my concern about the disastrous effects humans are having on our natural environment – particularly their exploitation of the sea” - Chris Booth

The artwork is on display on the stairwell between Level 1 and Level 2, Aotea Centre.

 

Artist: Chris Booth

Date of work: 1986

Medium: Sculpture – Bronze and Manuka

Funded by: Southpac