Kaitiaki 'The Keeper' lives on Post-2013 Festival of Flowers

After the huge success of ‘Kaitaiki – The Keeper’ during the 2013 Festival of Flowers, the creators of the installation, artist Darryn George (Nga Puhi) and landscape architect Craig Pocock (Pocock Design Environment) have agreed that this 5-metre tall vertical living art should be kept in place for the coming two years so that the Garden City community and visitors alike can continue gaining strength from its message.

Darryn and Craig are thrilled to have the continued support from the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch Garden City Trust and Christchurch Botanic Gardens to replant the ATUA garden trays with new enduring ferns that symbolise the rebirth of our city. The new arrangement will be sustained through the four Christchurch seasons. Anthony Wright, Director of the Museum, is enthusiastic to support the on-going life of Kaitiaki:

“Canterbury Museum is really pleased to support this initiative. Kaitiaki is a very special and visually striking artwork. It’s meaning, ‘The Keeper’, in a very real way reflects the role the Museum plays in our community – as the guardian of our region's precious taonga and protector of our rich cultural heritage,” he says. "To have Kaitiaki kept alive for a longer period of time for both locals and visitors to Christchurch to enjoy, really is a fantastic opportunity we should seize."

A quick background to the project:

Kaitiaki “The Keeper” was the centrepiece of the 2013 Festival of Flowers. It was the designers’ wish to provide a guardian to the community as a symbol of faith in post-earthquake Christchurch.

The site of Kaitiaki (meaning the ‘keeper’) is appropriate to the roles that the Botanic Gardens and the Canterbury Museum play in our community’s identity and well-being.  ‘Atua’, the other word in the sculpture, is Maori for God. This relates to the text carved into the façade of Canterbury Museum, ‘Lo these are parts of His ways, but how little a portion is heard of Him.’

This ground-breaking artwork is a fusion between Darryn George’s contemporary art work and Craig Pocock’s vision to create an unconventional living green wall.

George, a significant contemporary New Zealand artist who has exhibited in Christchurch, Wellington and Paris, is currently head of Christ’s College Art Department. His pieces, often in red, black and white, have a material presence while incorporating a Maori aesthetic within a Christian context.

Pocock, a local landscape architect with 19 years of national and international professional practice, has lived and worked in New Zealand, Australia, Jordan, Palestine, India and the US. His work applies the collective knowledge of traditional and contemporary sustainable practices to sustainable design. Craig has designed two living art walls for previous Festivals as part of pro bono work he does for schools and community groups.