Rapaki Jetty

Acrylic on canvas, 100cm x 80cm — 2006

Rapaki is one of those places you drive past without really seeing. A small Māori settlement tucked into Banks Peninsula, just over the Port Hills from Christchurch — close to the city, but quietly its own world.

I had driven past it many times. But it wasn't until I stopped and really looked — studied it properly for this painting — that I understood what I was looking at.

The jetty was built to honour the local men who fought and died at Gallipoli in World War One. That's not something you see from the road. It's something you discover when you pay attention. Painting has a way of making you do that.

This work was painted in 2006 for a charity art auction. I'm not one for attending events — probably something I should work on — but the news that came back made it worthwhile. The painting was purchased by the late Margaret Mahy, one of New Zealand's most treasured children's authors.

I couldn't have asked for a better home for it.