MEDIA RELEASE
Museum Marks 25th Anniversary Of Rainbow Warrior
Opening function Whangarei Art Museum Midday Tuesday 8 July
Opening guest speaker
Bunny McDiarmid - Chief Executive Greenpeace NZ
and a former Rainbow Warrior crewmember
Rainbow Warriors and Remainders – photographs by Gil Hanly and memorabilia loaned by Greenpeace NZ and private
collections.
curated by Scott Pothan 8 July – 5 September 2010
Rainbow Warriors and Remainders includes the Life Buoy , carved and painted Native Indian Rainbow Warrior plaque and
First Mates Chair from the bombed vessel and includes photographs taken by Gil Hanly of the arrival of the Rainbow
Warrior into Auckland Harbour and the subsequent welcoming party on board with dignitaries; the bombing and its
aftermath; and the images of the trials and public outrage at the time. Many of these images have not been seen
publically since 1985.
Whangarei Art Museum would like to acknowledge the support of Greenpeace NZ
and the Hanly Family Trust. There will be a schools Teachers Education Pack and
public programs available for this exhibition which will also be filmed and streamed
online.
Greenpeace Executive Director and former Rainbow Warrior crew member Bunny McDiarmid says of this exhibition at
Whangarei Art Museum;
‘Twenty five years ago Greenpeace altered the course of history by facing the world’s biggest powers head on in a drive
to end the nuclear threat in the Pacific…Greenpeace continues campaigning with our ships to protect the world’s
environment and the spirit of the original Warrior lives on in the replacement vessel also named the Rainbow Warrior.
Thanks to the people of Northland, who offered a final resting place for the Rainbow Warrior after she was bombed in
1985, her spirit lives on in Matauri Bay. ’ May 2010.
Pat Hanly
Also showing
Blast ! Pat Hanly-the painter and his protests
Toured by Lopdell House Gallery 8 July – 5 September 2010
The story of New Zealand’s struggle to be nuclear free cannot be told without reference to the late Pat Hanly and his
iconic works around the fear of and protest against nuclear weapons.Pat Hanly’s paintings are about passion and protest,
light, love and life and are joined in this exhibition by photographs from Gil Hanly, DVDS from Claudia Pond Eyley and
Lisa Prager. Blast! is also accompanied by a publication by Trish Gribben especially designed for children and the Art
Museum will be running schools education programs in situ with exciting interactive activity projects developed by Pippa
Lawlor in association with Whangarei Museum.
A survey exhibition of the artist Pat Hanly Classic Hanly curated by Scott Pothan was the inaugural exhibition at the
official opening of the Whangarei Art Museum 14 years ago in June 1996.
The Whangarei Art Museum is privileged to welcome back the expressive works of such a well-loved artist and activist.
ends