In the week since the idea was revealed in the Herald on Sunday, a huge statue on the Orakei headland has stirred a chorus of opposition and not much declared support. That is exactly what its proponents would have expected. Vision is a scarce commodity and, in truth, nobody really knows whether this one will work until it is there.
Even then, it would not be universally admired at first. A massive figure of a Māori mythological woman, Papatūānuku, goddess of earth, reaching out to the sky, Ranginui, the headland at the entrance to Auckland harbour, would be something that "needs to grow on you". It might, might not. The bigger and more dramatic it is, the longer it might take to grow on many.
But chances are, it would. Those who remember the Sky Tower when it was just completed can attest to the mixed reception it received. It looked completely out of scale with its surroundings at first. But within a year or two it was iconic, a part of the landscape Aucklanders know and mostly love.
Ngati Whatua of Orakei, owners of the headland, and the artists, carvers and designers of this idea, need to press ahead regardless of the opposition they are hearing. They should take heart from the fact that some of the world's most successful structures of public art, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, the Sydney Opera House, were scorned in the beginning and controversial until their completion.
If the Orakei project allows itself to be influenced by the criticism at this stage, it will not be bold. It will reduce the statue to dimensions that will barely be seen from a distance rather than standing out with all the stunning beauty of the Statue of Liberty or Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. They need to be bold. If it really does not work, if after it has been in place for a decade or so and the city has not taken it to heart, Ngati Whatua would be unlikely to leave it there.
