Christ exposed for Hamilton exhibition

Jesus Christ is being celebrated at the Hamilton Gardens under the stars again this April at the Stations of the Cross contemporary art exhibition.

The stations consist of 15 installations tracing Christ's journey in art from the Last Supper to the Resurrection.

Sisters Angela Rogerson and Liz Downing have laboured over their piece, which will be on view at the Japanese garden, depicting Jesus in his last moments before crucifixion.

The setting had a lot to do with the work, which the pair describe as life-sized origami and say it will look eerily spectacular with the lighting bouncing off the starkness of Jesus.

"The lighting will make him look lonely and vulnerable," Liz says.

In its eighth year, curator Dave White says the English, Italian, Japanese and Indian gardens will again embrace strong installations of a range of media, including sculpture, moving image, photography and tonoscopes.

"The concept is to take the ancient practice of walking Christ's path to his death and asks Kiwi artists to reflect and produce works that have a contemporary take on historic events."

The University of Waikato is also drumming up new SMART phone technology for the audio guide this year and can be downloaded from the stations' website with "smart" phone or MP3 applications.

Stations Poems of the Cross by resident garden wandering bard Ross Millar, penned over the eight years working with the collective, will be available for purchase.

Complimentary beverages are supplied in the Piazza at the completion of the journey which takes around one hour to walk.

Stations of the Cross opens Sunday. The exhibition is closed Monday and opens again Tuesday until Saturday, April 7 from 8-10pm. $5 entry, secondary students free. Complementary coffee. For more information visit www.stations.org.nz