This four-sided stone pillar is made up of 25 stone blocks in alternating layers, forming a pattern or code similar to the lines of a barcode. With its pyramid-shaped peak, *Transformer* provides a landmark for the adjoining Japanese garden, helping to draw people in. It also provides a visual connection when looking at the garden from the Henderson Train Station overbridge. The layered stones of this sculpture reflect the layering used in elements of the Japanese garden.

This sculpture is intended to be viewed alongside the artist's nearby basalt rock, [*Red Cross*](/artworks/3599). At first glance the pillar and the rock appear as very different things, but Edgar draws our attention to their similarities, and how something large-scale will eventually reduce to dust or sand. This reflects his fascination with long-term geological processes.

These two artworks are related through their use of common materials, but also complement each other through contrast; one has a hard, formal structure, the other is softer and more accessible. *Transformer* was commissioned by Waitākere City Council in 2006 for the new Waitākere Civic Centre, followed by *Red Cross* which was unveiled in June 2008.



"I wanted to provide a link or intermediary between the human scale and the surrounding built environment… I wanted to come up with something greater than the human scale but less intimidating than a building," says Edgar of *Transformer*. "It is an expression of a modern digital code embedded in stone, but it could equally be an ancient core from the earth showing the sedimentary layers and revealing geological events from the past."

Transformer

Waitakere's vast and varied landscape is referenced in this high relief wall sculpture representing the curves and depths of a contour map.  Based on an aerial view of the Henderson Valley, sculptor Louise Purvis translated the two-dimensional contour map of the valley back into a three-dimensional representation of the land.  A feature of this work is the marking of the streams that pass through the area - the Waitakere Ranges being the catchment that feeds these streams.

The sixteen marble panels have been hand-carved as one, then separated and floated off the wall on steel frames.  Laid out in groupings of four, they echo the ascending and descending shapes of the stairs at the main entry of the Council complex where the work is located.

*Catchment* was commissioned by Waitakere City Council in 2006 for the original civic building project for Te Ipu Kura a Maki, the Waitakere Central Council building in Henderson.

Catchment

Located on the wall of the air bridge near the council chambers, *Folau* consists of carved timber panels in the form of vaka (waka) which sit at either end of a carved, hand-lashed timber frame representing a traditional twig and shell star navigation chart used by Polynesian navigators. This floats over a flat painted form representing the Pacific Ocean that was crossed by various migrating Pacific peoples in their migration to New Zealand from early times to the present.

The work was developed as one of a handful of significant civic commissions from artists that have strong links to Waitākere City, to grace the Waitākere Central building complex.

Artist Fatu Feu'u was commissioned as a senior Pacific Island artist to create an artwork to represent and honour the contribution Pacific Island peoples have made to the culture and heritage of Waitākere. He consulted with the major Pacific communities in Waitākere in the conception of the piece, to achieve an iconic pan-Pacific work with multiple visual and cultural references.

Folau

Pou Whenua are carved posts placed strategically on the land to acknowledge and represent the relationship between tāngata whenua (the people of the land), and their environment or tūrangawaewae (place of standing).

Made up of twelve carved Kauri panels, this pou stands at the entrance to the Waitākere Central building in Henderson and was designed and carved by Te Kawerau ā Maki carvers John Collins and Sunnah Thompson. The panels carry the stories of the local iwi Te Kawerau ā Maki to the present day and each represents a different story. This external pou whenua links to a second, inside the building, which represents Te Kawerau ā Maki tīpuna (ancestors).

The timber was sourced from a bush block in the Coromandel, owned by local iwi. It was blown over by a major weather event more than 100 years ago and was sitting on the forest floor until recovered for this work.

John Edgar

Transformer

"A striped pillar made up of alternating layers of coloured stone, helping to connect people and place."

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