Site 7. Caroline Rothwell (New Zealand)
Kotuku (2002)
Water Garden Pond, Christchurch Botanic Gardens
4th September - 30th November 2002

The kotuku is the native white heron, a bird that, in Maori culture, symbolises all things beautiful and rare. The saying 'He Kotuku rerenga tahi' refers to the white heron as a bird of single flight - a sight seen perhaps only once in a lifetime.

Inspired by the kotuku from the bird halls at Canterbury Museum, Caroline Rothwell's work floated on a large pond in the Botanic Gardens. For a moment it may have seemed to passers-by as if a heron had landed.

The sculpture was concerned with how light and shade and tricks of visual perspective distort our experience of form. With three birds' heads arising from a single body, Kotuku appeared like a three-dimensional Rorschach inkblot, each side mirroring the other. The result was a haunting and enigmatic work, recognisable as the native heron but also an abstract form ready to engage with the viewer's imagination.

Curator: Lara Strongman