The rudder is a guiding principle, a device that steers us on our journey. To ritually walk through this rudder engages the body in a metaphor for the journey that the New World we live in challenges us to take.  

Denis O’Connor is a sculptor, installation artist and poet and has works in numerous major public collections in New Zealand, Australia, France and the Netherlands. Denis is a graduate of the School of Industrial Design in Wellington, who has also studied in Europe, Japan and the USA.

The void of the doorway is a rudder formation and symbolically memorialises our migrant cultures.  The front view is of black marble and not unlike the view of the night sky, and its high polish reflects the image of the viewer. The vivid blue and white strips of the reverse side are abstracted panoramic streams of sea and sky.  

1997
Marble / 3500 x 6190 x 250mm
Manuka Way, Botanic Garden
With funding from Creative New Zealand and Wellington City Council