Safe Passage: Whangaōkeno to the Mainland (Te Araroa – East Cape Lighthouse)

• 1030 x 700mm
• Acrylic, newsprint and compressed charcoal on board in recycled cedar window frame
• 2023
• $4500

In 1922, the East Cape lighthouse was relocated from its original site on Whangaōkeno Island, to the mainland, due to the increasing danger of slips and treacherous, stark conditions. The upper-section of the lighthouse was dismantled, shifted by steamer (a challenging and complex feat) and re-erected on Otiki hill – providing a view to where it once stood, proud and resilient. The keeper’s cottages were also removed and re-erected elsewhere. Set within a partitioned frame, this painting encourages the viewer through the narrative, siting the lighthouse within past and present contexts to acknowledge an important fragment of NZ’s maritime history.