Restoration complete on long-lost art treasure

Restoration complete on long-lost art treasure

Restoration has been completed on a rediscovered significant national mural, and it is now available for the public to view online (http://bronwyn.co.nz/projects/te-ika-a-akoranga) and as photographic tiles in a large publicly-viewable glass cabinet in the JWT offices in the Imperial Building, Lower Queen Street.

As the reproduction shows, 16 of 414 ceramic tiles that comprise the mural remain missing. The unveiling is part of an art project titled “Te Ika-a-Akoranga” (The Fish of Akoranga) by Wellington-based artist Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, commissioned by independent public art programme Letting Space.

The mural is a large-scale illustration of the mythical Māori tale of Māui fishing up the North Island of New Zealand (Te Ika-a-Māui). It was originally created in 1961 by leading New Zealand artist E. Mervyn Taylor to mark the opening of the Tasman section of the Commonwealth Pacific Cable (COMPAC), a precursor of today’s Southern Cross Cable. The present-day fibre-optic cable carries 98% of New Zealand’s international internet traffic and is allegedly subject to wholesale mass surveillance, as revealed by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald at the Moment of Truth event at Auckland Town Hall in September 2014.

The COMPAC cable was a major post-World War Two submarine telecommunications system built between 1961-63 to connect a network of Commonwealth countries. The more recent Southern Cross Cable’s landing station is located in the same high-security complex as the now disused COMPAC landing station.

The work is part of a commissioned series of projects by independent public art curators Letting Space for JWT New Zealand, which explores the relationship between private and public space. For this commissioned project Holloway-Smith has painstakingly restored and photographed all the tiles in the Taylor mural. The reproduction of the mural has been put together gradually over 2014, like a jigsaw, as the restoration and digitisation of tiles occurred.

The tiles have been released online under a Creative Commons copyright license allowing members of the public, anywhere in the internet-connected world, to reconstruct their own version of the mural.

“The COMPAC station was publicly accessible for many years until approximately 1990, when a high-security perimeter fence was built around the complex.” Holloway-Smith has explained. “It seems appropriate to give part of the work back to the public considering the mural’s history as a public artwork, the shifts that have happened in terms of its accessibility, and its proximity to one of the most important sites in New Zealand’s communications history”.

The COMPAC cable reinforced the commonwealth geo-political ties that were strengthened during World War Two. At the time of building, the cable cost $100 million, spanning 14,000 miles, and containing 11,000 miles of telephone cable that linked Scotland, Canada, Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia. The tale of The Fish of Maui bears a metaphorical connection with the physical nature of the COMPAC cable.

Taylor’s mural was installed in the foyer of the COMPAC landing station in Northcote, Auckland, but was later removed due to deterioration and thought to be lost. The mural has recently been rediscovered stacked away in a disused area of the now defunct COMPAC landing station. The history of the mural and the Southern Ocean cables is outlined as part of the art project in a blog here.

‘Te Ika-a-Akoranga’ is the first work in a series Holloway-Smith is creating in connection with her PhD through Massey University College of Creative Arts, where she is investigating the cultural significance of the landing sites of NZ’s Southern Cross Cable. It is the second project in a series commissioned by curators Letting Space for JWT New Zealand. The first Please Give Generously by Judy Darragh ran from December 2013 to May 2014.

In Summary:

Work title: Te Ika-a-Akoranga (The Fish of Akoranga)

Artist name: Bronwyn Holloway-Smith

Project begins: May 2014

Full unveiling date: 10 October 2014

Original work: Te Ika-a-Māui, by E. Mervyn Taylor, 1961

Total number of tiles in the mural: 414

Letting Space project page: http://www.lettingspace.org.nz/te-ika-a-akoranga/

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