From the Black Water (Crossed Eels with Hoop)
First floor, Boys’ High, Worcester Boulevard
Title of artwork: From the Black Water (Crossed Eels with Hoop) Artist: Bing Dawe
Date: 2001
Category of work: sculpture
Media: carved kauri, forged steel
Where you can see it: Boys’ High Building, upstairs, hanging from ceiling above the back staircase. Follow signs for the lift and you will see the stairs nearby.
Thanks to: Arts Centre of Christchurch Trust.
This was the first major artwork commissioned by The Arts Centre itself.
It was specifically commissioned for its site in the old Boys’ High building as part of the building’s pre-quake redevelopment. Dawe’s concept was selected from submissions by an invited shortlist of artists. The selection panel comprised Peter Kent (architect), Anna Crighton (arts advisor), John Scott (arts advisor), and Jenny May (heritage advisor).
The then Arts Centre Director Tony Paine said, “It’s appropriate that Bing was chosen to create this artwork. He is after all a former Arts Centre tenant who spent 13 years working from a studio on site that used to be part of the original School of Art.”
By this time, Bing was already an established artist: the Robert McDougall Art Gallery had presented a major survey exhibition of his work, Bing Dawe: Acts of Enquiry, in 1999, which spanned 20 years of artmaking.
The sculpture draws deeply on Dawe’s River works and depicts two eels carved from kauri and a steel hoop. The River works recycle old knowledge and its symbolic language, and are layered with themes from Dawe’s earlier work: endangered flora and fauna, the brevity of existence which cannot be halted or contained, and the mystery of life encapsulated in a child’s question, ‘Where do the eels go?’ Dawe has continued to explore environmental themes throughout his career.
The original press release (22 November 2001) states that it was important to Dawe to incorporate a strong simple composition into the space “because the installation is in such a busy environment.” The staircase site is no longer a bustling location. Today it might more likely be read as a deep pool.
The circle featured in the sculpture alludes to the draining of the original marshlands upon which Ōtautahi Christchurch was built, and other threats such as the hook and the spear. This device recurs in Dawe’s work. Bing Dawe is represented by The Central Art Gallery, which is in the old Library building at The Arts Centre.