New life for strong sentiments

Margaret Lawlor-Bartlett, Claudia Pond Eyley, John Nicol and Vanya Lowry rework the anti-nuke mural. Picture / Carolyn Robertson

The famous anti-nuclear mural on the corner of K Rd and Ponsonby Rd may have started to disintegrate to the point it had to be removed, but the anti-war sentiments which inspired it in the first place still burn as strong as ever.

Visual Artists Against Nuclear Arms who created the original 20-panel mural between 1984-93 have been hard at work, since the new year, creating replicas of the first eight panels from digital prints of the original photographs.

Next Tuesday evening, those will be reinstalled along the reservoir wall which was the mural's former home. Eight new works will join them, at a later stage, created by a younger generation of artists.

Alongside the new installation, public art will become private property for those who want to own a special piece of our social history.

As well as creating the replicas, members of VAANA have been "downsizing" the original murals, cutting them up to make new works of art. Those have been polyurethaned, and their original provenance properly labelled on the back. They will go on auction online from 6pm next Tuesday, with the pieces viewable on Trade Me, at www.kroad.com or in person at Artstation. The bidding on Trade Me will close off on February 8 at 4pm.

It's a rare opportunity to own a historically significant piece of a work by veteran Kiwi artists Nigel Brown, Claudia Pond Eyley, Margaret Lawlor-Bartlett, John Eaden, Vanya Lowry, Jill Carter-Hansen, John Nicol and Pat Hanly. Hanly's contribution to this new phase of the mural project came about, fittingly, through the agreement of his family at a gathering at the Hanly home after his funeral in September 2004. Prime Minister Helen Clark was there, about to head into an election year where New Zealand's anti-nuclear stance would again become an issue.

The concern over nuclear power has not become old hat since the inception of VAANA over 20 years ago. Just look at Iran and North Korea, then, closer to home, recall that phrase that rang from a politician's lips last year: "Gone by lunchtime."