Rivertalk : Stop the Coalgate Dam

Central Plains Water wants to consruct a dam at Coalgate in Canterbury, New Zealand ,flood the Waianiwaniwa Valley and divert water from the Waimakariri and Rakaia rivers to irrigate marginal farmi...

opening Mark Hutchins Gallery Wellington,24 february 2009

Rivertalk exhibition/coming up

Media release – January 26, 2009

Christchurch artists to stage art protest campaign to save Canterbury’s Waianiwaniwa Valley and Rakaia and Waimakariri Rivers

Two Christchurch artists deeply concerned about the future of Canterbury’s water will launch their Canterbury River-talk project in March, they said today.

Artist friends Sally Hope and Jane Zusters want to draw attention to the Central Plains water and land grab scheme.

Last year the pair co-foundered a network of New Zealand artists named Artists to Save Our Water which instigates art projects about local and regional water issues.

A group of artists will camp at Kowai Bush at the site where the braided Waimakariri River will turn into a concrete canal if the Central Plains water scheme goes ahead.

An exquisite valley of lush rolling hills and mature trees planted by generations of Deans will be submerged by a 55 metre dam if the scheme is approved.

The artists involved are Mark Adams, Nigel Brown, Linda James, Sam Mahon, Albi McCathy, Ramonda Te Maiharoa, Tiffany Thornley, Becky Turrell and also Hope and Zusters.

``We are camping from March 20 to 23 where the Waimakariri River leaves the Gorge and the braided section of the river begins,’’ Zusters and Hope said.

``This is the location of the Upper Intake and canal for the proposed Central Plains scheme. We will be organising a tour of the surrounding area that would be affected if this scheme goes ahead.

``Artists will be able to see, feel, touch, collect, sketch, photograph, film, write, process and draw their experiences to use as the basis for a water art exhibition we are planning for later in the year. There will be no decision on Central Plains Water before May and so this is perfect timing for publicity purposes to protect and celebrate the river through their artwork,’’ they said.

Ends

Media advisory: for further information, comment, photos or interviews please contact Sally Hope on 03 355 2076 or Jane Zusters on 03 389 3509 or Kip Brook at Word of Mouth Media NZ on 0275 033 855

Rivertalk Exhibition: Coca Gallery Christchurch

24 november to 12 december 2009


Rivertalk is part two of a project by a group of artists to celebrate through their art making the Waimakariri River in the vicinity of the Malvern Hills. This is the site for the proposed Coalgate Dam if the Central Plains Water scheme is approved. An exquisite landscape of lush rolling hills and mature trees planted by generations of Deans will be submerged by a 55 metre dam while the Waimakariri becomes a concrete canal instead of a braided river. One of the central issues of our time is that ecological uneasy edge where natural worlds are threatened when human beings channel the whole eco system into themselves.

From Friday 20th March to Monday 23rd March 2009 the artists will camp at Kowai bush. This is where the Waimakariri River leaves the Gorge and the braided section of the river begins. This is the location of the Upper Intake and canal for the proposed Central Plains Water Scheme. The artists will travel on a voyage of inspiration/visual research by jet boat along the banks of the Waimakariri capturing the ever changing mood of the water and the plains surrounding it. They will also have bus a trip escorted by a spokesperson from the Malvern Hills protection society and have the opportunity to see some of the magnificent homesteads and historic sites that are threatened. One of these sites is one of the most significant areas of mudfish in Canterbury. The artists will see, feel, touch, collect, sketch, photograph, film, write, process and draw their experiences to use as the basis for future art making for an exhibition that Sally Hope and Jane Zusters are in the process of organising.

The following artists are participating in Rivertalk; Mark Adams, Nigel Brown, Sally Hope, Linda James, Sam Mahon, Albi McCathy, Ramonda Te Maiharoa, Tiffany Thornley, Becky Turrell, Jane Zusters. These are nationally known New Zealand artists with proven track records and the results of their research will result in a significant body of work about this threatened, iconic landscape. As artists we want to protect and celebrate this landscape through our art making.

For more information please contact;

Jane Zusters ph 3893509 Sally Hope 355 2076

This is a project by a network of New Zealand artists that we co founded called ”Artists for save our Water” which instigates art projects that draw attention to local water issues.

Birdtalk : Campbell Grant Galleries, Christchurch. 2008

Bird talk: artist’s statement for my show at Campbell Grant Galleries, Christchurch, NZ. 18 November - 6 December 2008


In Christchurch recently I spotted two plover as they mistook a heap of concrete in Lichfield Street behind NG Gallery for a braided river and nested by the Wilson’s temporary car park. Walking to my studio one day I saw two chicks, the next day there was one and, soon after, long before the remaining chick could fly, the parents were gone. My friend Ramonda responded to these observations and wrote the following poem.



Bird talk

In the cities crowded space
it’s like a zoo or continual race
to nest on a building block
no protection from tree or rock
with predators arriving at the family nest
you know the young birds’ dismal fate
it licked its lips
and ate and ate

Ramonda te Maiharoa

In 2000, fresh back from 10 months living in London, I started collecting Sovereign timber brick-a-brac: rulers, trays with painted and poker worked birds, brushes, cheese boards, napkin rings, 21st birthday keys and jewellery boxes. Then, I could pick up the pieces for a few bucks and for me they felt like icons of cultural identity. These timber souvenirs evoke what is special about being here; miro, kahikatea, kauri, kaikawaka, rewarewa, tawa, pukatea, totara, matai, tanekaha and rimu. The native timbers inlaid in these domestic objects remind that in their milling the birds have lost their homes; huia, kokako, piopio, hihi, kaka, kakapo, ruru, weka and tieke.

In 2004 I went in search of the living birds and trees evoked by these souvenirs. I journeyed from Auckland, where I was then living, to Ulva Island, a predator free bird sanctuary at the bottom of the South Island. I filmed rare birds and juxtaposed them with a MacDonald’s drive-in. The collaged birthday papers in my painting Requiem for the birds (2004) also evoke the process of colonisation that has displaced the birds.

In the South Island the kokako is no more. Instead of hundreds of kaha recorded flying we are lucky to see half a dozen. There are now no tui in Christchurch. Today in the city the morepork does not cry outside the bathroom window - there are no takahe at the backdoor. You have to go to a predator free bird sanctuary to see the few survivors who are kept alive by intensive human intervention hence the reference to nature on dialysis in the title of one of my works.

The common birds such as the Tarapunga or black-billed gull are threatened. A black-billed bird count in Southland in 1974 found 85,000 breeding pairs, but last year that number had dropped to 4,000 pairs. Increasing river water takes for irrigation and unfenced rivers and cows are endangering our remaining birds. This year in the Mackenzie Country I saw a banded dotterel screaming to distract a beef cow advancing on its nest.

Hopscotch started out as a game played by Roman soldiers to hone their battle skills. It seems to me that we are playing hopscotch with the planet. Try imagining a world without polar bears, bumblebees, frogs, elephants and birds.



Jane Zusters
17 November 2008



holy cow - why wurri ? by jane zusters 2008

artists for save our water

It takes 700 litres of water to make one litre of milk. It is export gold at the expense of flushing flows,biodiversity and our right to enjoy our rivers recreationally. Artists Sally Hope and Jane Zusters curated this exhibition to draw attention to the latest Te Waipounamu/ South Island water grab. In august Environment Canterbury will hear 28 water consent applications affecting Mackenzie Basin waterways. Cows are replacing sheep,cashing in on the present dairy export boom reducing the waterways to near-lifeless over-enriched trickles.

This iconic landscape has a fragile ecosystem and is home to over 40 species of birds that rely on these unique braided rivers.
These species are in decline already and face further habitat loss through the proposed water abstarction and diversion to irrigate 25,000 ha. For instance the black-billed gulls have declined from 85,000 breeding birds in 1974 to 4,000 pairs today.

Over 25 artists are participating including Mark Adams, Philippa Blair,Nigel Brown, Bing Dawe and Grahame Sydney.
(the image above is "nature on dialysis' 1500x1500 by Jane Zusters).

NG GALLERY, 212 MADRAS ST, CHRISTCHURCH,
3 JUNE TO 30 JUNE 2008

Waka Reo 2007

Tena Koutou,
This is just to say that the 2007 seies of Waka Reo on which I was art director is screening on Maori Television 8pm tuesdays from 2 October to 25 December.This is the limestone cave that I painted as the set for the elimination of the contestants. Tune in to see lights,action,buzzers and a fantastic series that I am proud to be part of.