One of New Zealand's best-known female artists, Lisa Reihana was chosen to create an artwork to celebrate feminist trailblazer Ellen Melville. The brief was to design a piece for the outside of the mid-century O'Connell Street building in downtown Auckland – now known as the Ellen Melville Centre – as part of the restoration and refurbishment of the building and surrounding public space on High Street.

Ellen Melville practised law for 37 years and was the second female lawyer to pass the Bar in New Zealand in 1906. She was also the first woman elected to city council in New Zealand. As a nod to Melville’s career as a lawyer, Reihana uses the scales of justice in her sculpture.

Cast in bronze by Monument Sculpture Foundry in Onehunga, the 3.8 metre-high scales are framed by an abstract patterned background, a reference to the building's modernist aesthetic, painted by Nigel Roberts. Unlike the notion of blind justice, these scales are tipped in favour of women. Holding the higher position of the scales, the bowl contains the ancient female symbol of Venus. The counterweight bowl contains the letters EM, for Ellen Melville, which is lower and closer to pedestrians.



"I wanted the bronze sculpture to form the centrepiece of the façade – it's a strong, singular form with gentle curves, while the whimsical abstract wall composition has a 50s feel..." said Reihana of the work when it was installed in 2017.

Justice

"Near the beginning of *The Aeneid* (29-19 BC), Aeneas is wandering around snapping twigs off trees, trying to find a decent oracle. Blood oozes out of a tree and voice says: "this is NOT a good place to build your city—be gone!" These days we have the opposite issue. The city is everywhere—we're looking for somewhere other than the city. We pick up broken bits of it and listen for the oracular voice coming from the power box or the wheelie bin. It says: "Keep going. Head towards the abandoned shopping trolley. Take the abandoned shopping trolley through the stormwater drain. When you come out the other end, there's a patch of grass waiting for you." - Artist Statement

Gabriel White is a musician, performer and moving image artist from Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland. His moving image work explores industrial and suburban landscapes as a field for playful, surrealist improvisation, led by a wandering figure who searches unlikely environments for signs of a mysterious otherworld lying beneath our everyday surroundings.

*Motorway Flowers* was part of *Wild Wild Life* commissioned by Auckland Council and curated by Mark Williams, director of CIRCUIT Artist Moving Image. *Wild Wild Life* was originally presented by Te Ahurei Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Arts Festival 2024 and installed at a series of site-specific locations across the inner city.

Motorway Flowers

These hand woven tukutuku (ornamental latticework) panels were presented to the New Zealand Pioneers' and Descendants' Club by Mr and Mrs Eruera Stirling. They were a gift to mark the occasion of the opening of the Pioneer Women's Hall in 1962. Ōrākei marae weavers restored both the pātū (screen) and tukutuku areas for the re-opening of the venue in 2017 which was renamed the Ellen Melville Centre.

Historically tukutuku were used around the walls of Māori meeting houses, particularly between carvings. The panels consist of vertical stakes often made of toetoe - kākaho (stems of a native grass-like plant).

The interwoven horizontal rods are traditionally made from tōtara (native timber) or stalks of bracken-fern. Kiekie (native flax) and pīngao (golden sand sedge) are used to form the patterning.

Tukutuku

Standing larger than life, feet wide apart and hands thrust into his greatcoat pockets *Lord Freyberg* confidently overlooks his namesake, Freyberg Place, from the top of the steps. This statue is a memorial to Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Cyril Freyberg (1889-1963), Commander of the New Zealand Division in World War II and Governor-General of New Zealand 1945-1952.

Artist, Anthony Stones, was born in England and emigrated to New Zealand when he was 18. He is known for his statuary of significant historical figures which includes Jean Batten at the Auckland International Airport and Sir Peter Fraser outside the Old Government Building in Wellington.

This memorial was donated to the City of Auckland by returned servicemen in 1980.

Lisa Reihana

Justice

"Paying tribute to themes of feminism and justice, this sculpture adds vibrancy and life to the popular Ellen Melville Centre and Freyberg Place."

Artwork details

Production date

Medium

Dimensions

Credit line

Description

Location

Artworks near this one