Public Art in Central Christchurch

Nga Kete Wananga

Approximate dimensions: h 2.7m w 4.6m Location: Christchurch Law Courts, Durham Street Setting: Mounted onto internal wall Owner / administrator: Justice Department Category: Sculpture / Carving Title: Nga Kete Wananga Alternate title : Baskets of Knowledge Primary artist(s): Cliff Whiting Execution date: 1989 Media: Kauri

After three commissions had been arranged for the Justice Department buildings $54, 000 remained of a $150, 000 provision for public art in the building. It was decided that the balance of the budget should be used for the acquisition of further works for the site. Subsequently a fourth work was commissioned.

An artist was required to produce a work that would recognise the history of the site and satisfy the Justice Department's "longstanding requirement to have art works reflecting the multicultural nature of our society."¹ The artist was to be selected in consultation with the Ngai Tahu Trust.

The artist chosen was Cliff Whiting, a master carver from Russell. Whiting was informed that the Justice Department buildings were built on an old Pa site, Puari, that had been inhabited up to the 1850s. Therefore in the theme of his design Whiting incorporated aspects of Maori religion and philosophies that controlled and regulated the lives of the Pa's inhabitants.² These social structures related to the Law Court's contemporary function of regulating society for the safety and well being of the larger community.

Whiting's work is titled Nga Kete Wananga, (the Baskets of Knowledge). In the work the 'baskets of knowledge' link various themes. There are three baskets of knowledge, these are Te Kete Tuauri, the basket of ritual of control and law, Te Kete Aronui, the basket of love and peace, and Te Kete Tuatea, the basket of evil. The spirals in the centre of the work represent the growth of knowledge contained in the baskets. The three tall figures represent maui characters in the story of the acquisition of the three baskets. The three shorter figures relate to the Maori religious concept of the twelfth heaven, from where the three baskets were obtained.

¹ Letter from the Department of Justice to the Ministry of Works and Development, 7 January, 1988. Robert McDougall files

² Letter from Cliff Whiting to J. Espie, 18 October, 1988. Robert McDougall files

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