The aim of Pew and its supporters is to encourage the New Zealand Government to protect the region for all time as the Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary, entirely free from fishing and mineral exploration, making it the biggest marine reserve in the world.
They have succeeded . . . in September of this year the government announced that the area in question will become a reserve “to protect the extraordinary diversity of life”.
And in the meantime the exhibition created by the hardy artists has become a talking point around the country, including in Gisborne where Kermadec: Lines In The Ocean is currently on show at Tairawhiti Museum.
At the time they went, however, many of the artists wasn’t even sure where the Kermadecs were on the map, nor that the Kermadec Ridge absorbs a long line of more than 50 submerged live volcanos that start with White Island in the Bay of Plenty and continue north, while the massive Kermadec-Tonga Trench, which lies parallel to the east, descends more than 10km below the surface of the sea.
While excited about the destination, O’Brien says he found the journey arduous, with six tiny bunks per cabin, no windows below deck and very rough seas.
After two days of vibration, rolling and pitching, the artists rose eagerly at dawn as Raoul Island emerged on the horizon, wreathed in pink powder-puff clouds.
Reynolds says it was hard not to view the island in “pirate terms”.
“There was a real sense of expectation that we would be able to stretch our legs and be artists instead of passengers on a naval boat,” he says.
“The DoC people thought they could escort us around the island, but the job description of an artist is that you are an independent individual and we were there to explore, so we were off, like a swarm of kittens.”
“I found the whole place was very blissful,” observes O’Brien, “but I was aware that you could be lulled into a sense of false security. The ground was soft, but it was precipitous.
“It’s an unregulated, unforgiving place. It is quite paradoxical -- one of the most beautiful places I have ever been but one that has a complicated personality with weird bits of steam coming out of the cliff sides, weird plants everywhere.”
After 48 hours on the island, the group returned to the Otago and, upon their return home, each artist found a different way of expressing their Kermadec experience, with photos, poetry, video interviews, sound, paintings and prints and, in the case of White and Hall, tapa.
The collection of works has since had quite a life. First exhibited at the Tauranga Art Gallery, it has evolved and toured – both nationally and internationally – in the three years before it was installed in Gisborne.
To mark its importance Tairawhiti Museum and Pew have organised a series of supporting events, including talks from four of the intrepid artists. – NZ HERALD/THE GUIDE
