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Niue’s Hikulagi Sculpture Park

John Daly-Peoples

Niue’s Hikulagi Sculpture Park: A Global Microcosm

Sited in the middle of the natural rainforest of the Pacific Island of Niue is a physically small but conceptually monumental installation / treatise on global environment concerns, the Hikulagi Sculpture Park.

The Hikulagi Park was established in 1996 by members of the then Tahiono Arts Collective, a small group of artists including Mark Cross. Many had returned to their Pacific home, countering the trend of urban drift that has devastated many rural and island populations in the Pacific.

Several acres of land south of the eastern village of Liku were at the artists’ disposal and, while being ideal for the purpose of the artists’ environmental concerns, it was also ironically surrounded by the pristine rainforest which once covered the now degraded land.

The park’s concept embraces the sentiment that an island is analogous to Planet Earth in microcosm, and so is intended to encourage discussion on issues such as, pollution, climate change and human co-existence. It is a place where the intrinsic and unique qualities of Niuean Culture and environment can be shared with the world while attracting attention to Niue through the medium of contemporary sculpture, a medium seen nowhere else in the Pacific Islands.

Its intention is to do this through audience participation and the predominant utilisation of the found object; that is to say, the artists and community make sculpture from the inorganic waste created by contemporary consumer society.

With this in mind, the centrepiece of the park is the monumental sculpture called ‘Protean Habitat’ which epitomises the ideals behind the Hikulagi Sculpture Space. On-going and interactive, it is an art project that does not have any perception of a finite conclusion. Based on a wooden substructure, it is an assemblage sculpture fundamentally constructivist in its utilisation of the found object that can easily be attached with the most basic of tools, enabling passers-by to add their own input.

In its state of ever-changing growth the sculpture reflects the state of the world and the refuse that humanity is accumulating in its juggernaut consumerist path to who-knows-where. This vagueness of direction and final outcome of humanity are then reflected in the unexpected directions the sculpture will take during its growth and the fact that it will grow ad infinitum.

The first sculpture to be erected at the park in 1996 was by Niuean returnee Mikoyan Vekula, who grew up in Wellington. His ‘Odesyk’ is a six-metre semicircle of six totem poles of native Kafika hardwood decorated intricately with cut and inverted beer cans. The circle is completed by limestone rocks known as Makatea throughout Polynesia. Resisting the Polynesian artist trend of introspection in his imagery, Vekula draws from a number of indigenous cultures including Australian, American and Celtic .The totems in this esoterically titled sculpture depict a family, with the guardians on each end of the semicircle and the four children in the middle. At the centre of the circle is a bench intended for the viewer’s contemplation and meditation.

Several more ephemeral artworks have been created by artists who just happen to be passing through Niue. A good example is ‘Web’, a sculpture created by environmental artist Meri Heitala from Helsinki which has been made by stringing telephone wire, spider-web-like, between two coconut trees while attaching drink can tear tabs, which suggests captured insects. In this way, such ephemeral sculptures are encouraged to enlist the input from visiting artists who may not have the time to create something more permanent.

A recent project that is more of an enclosure than a sculpture is ‘Sale’s Fale’, an ongoing project in memory of the Niue High School art teacher and sculpture park co-founder Charles Jessop who passed away in 2012. The sculpture is in the form of a monumental montage constructed by the Niue community through the biennial competition ‘The Charles Jessop Memorial Sculpture Prize’

The Hikulagi Sculpture space to date is being created through the voluntary labour of various individuals and businesses on Niue. Initial funding at its inception was provided by the Pacific Development and Conservation Trust as well as the then Aus-Aid Cultural Fund. The space has been supported by Reef Shipping, The New Zealand High Commission to Niue and Niue Tourism has helped with some construction and on-going maintenance.


Protean Habitat is an ongoing monumental assemblage in an ever-changing state of growth and decay, not unlike all life on the planet Earth. It has an interactive element whereby the public are invited to add their own sub-sculptures to the substructure leaving their small indelible mark on the growth of the main construction.

Mark Cross who has had over 40 years of association with the Island of Niue says “I have been alert to the layers upon layers of humanity that has come and gone leaving small elements of their lives making a small community into a living protean organism. In such an isolated community this awareness becomes more acute and then you realize what you are experiencing is a microcosm of the whole world. So, in its state of ever-changing growth, the sculpture reflects the state of the world and the refuse that humanity is accumulating in its juggernaut consumerist path to who knows where. This vagueness of direction and the final outcome of humanity is then reflected in the unpredictable directions the sculpture will take during its growth and the fact that it may or may not grow ad infinitum.”

The concept behind the Hikulagi Sculpture Park has links to the Watts Towers in Los Angles and Palais Ideal in Hauterives, France.

The Watts Towers are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural, structures, built by Simon Rodia over a period of 33 years from 1921 to 1954. The Palais Ideal is a series of constructions built by postman. Ferdinand Cheval over 33 years 1879–1912 in Hauterives, France.

A new project will involve the internationally recognised sculptor Chris Booth who has produced more than twenty large scale sculptures around the world. The sculptor travelled to Niue in 2023 when he ascertained the potential sculptural medium of rocks and stones as well as meeting with potential collaborators such as the leading weavers in the village of Liku,

As weaving is the most dynamic artform existing in Niue today Chris has identified with it and master weavers Enele Kaiuha and Ahi Makaea-Cross have agreed to collaborate and transfuse ideas that may influence the design of the sculpture. This collaboration will in turn enable the project managers to interest the wider community in becoming involved both in a practical way (the collection of rocks and stones) and as an audience in the construction of the sculpture and the finished work. We also anticipate that the schools both primary and secondary to be involved from the outset to the completion, the project being a unique opportunity for the children to be exposed to contemporary art practice if not being more closely involved in its construction.

In 2024 he again travelled to Niue in September to try to decide on a more definite concept for the sculpture. Prior to his arrival the Broadcasting Corporation of Niue (BCN) offered the project a cyclone damaged, 8 metre diameter, aluminium satellite dish which could be inverted to form a dome structure. This would support around 1700 150mm rocks from the quarry while another 500 or so weathered beach rocks would provide a contrast to the more jagged quarry stone which would be employed to create the patterns used in the “tia” coil weaving technique (placemats, bowls etc). The use of the satellite dish also fits within the strong Hikulagi ethos of the re and upcycling of obsolete consumer and industrial materials as an environmental statement.

https://www.markcross.nu/

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Exhibition of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel coming to Wellington for Christmas

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Michelangelo Creation of Adam

MICHELANGELO – A Different View 

Tākina, 50 Cable Street

December 22 – February 8

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The Sistine Chapel at the Vatican is home to one of the greatest artistic accomplishments in history. It was there in the early 16th century that Michelangelo created the brilliant religious frescoes on the ceiling telling the stories from Genesis. He also painted The Last Judgement on the altar wall, depicting the Second Coming and the Final Judgement.

While millions of viewers have visited the chapel in Rome each year it is not always the most pleasurable experience with the room  crowded with hundreds of people and a constant babble of voices. Having to crane one’s neck to see the ceiling surrounded by milling people is not the ideal way to see the work.

Now a new photographic exhibition attempts to replicate the experience with large reproduction of the Michelangelo’s ceiling and   The Last Judgement. The exhibition was shown in Auckland three years ago, attracting large numbers interested in the religious, art and historical significance of the works..

The exhibition has used state-of-the-art technology to reproduce photographs taken of the artworks following recent restorations

The printing techniques used have been able to  reproduce the colours, the details and  brushstrokes, even compensating for the curved nature of some of the paintings

The reproduction 4.6 metres by 20 metres –  about half the size of the actual ceiling but up close the images provide a new experience.

The image of the ceiling is laid out on the floor and adjacent to it is a viewing platform which provides a view which in many ways is better than the original. Even if you have seen the original this is a different experience as you can see the detail of the work and appreciate the overall design as well the juxtaposition of figures and colours.

Many of the smaller elements of the work which are hardly visible when standing in the chapel such as the small bronze-coloured medallions but these are clear now and add another level of complexity and  understanding to the work.

For many the work will be a religious experience seeing the stories from the Bible brought to life on a grand scale. For others it will be an admiration of the originality and skill displayed by the artist along with an appreciation of the working conditions he faced in creating the works.

Michelangelo, The Last Judgement

On the Sistine Chapel ceiling he painted his complex telling the story of the Creation according to Genesis, the beginning of the world. Then in the Last Judgment he presents the end of the world when the godly are separated from the ungodly. Here the scene is presided over, not by the old, bearded god of the ceiling but by a youthful dynamic figure. Michelangelo also included a self-portrait – a flayed skin  which is something of a metaphor of the artist who considered himself to have been eviscerated by the whole painterly journey.

The ceiling painting is a stunning example of trompe l’oeil with the painter creating an illusory architecture with marble putti supporting a cornice on whose regularly placed outcrops are stone seats on which, nude figures are seated along with images of major Prophets and Sibyls seated on monumental thrones .

Michelangelo, Delphic Sibyl

Michelangelo had a difficult task in reconciling the ideas of Renaissance Humanism with the theology of 16th century Christianity. This was because the Church emphasized Man as essentially sinful and flawed, while Michelangelo was focused on Man’s beauty and nobility. The  two views were irreconcilable and led to later problems such as the nudes of the Last Judgment having drapery painted over their testicles after the artists death.

For Michelangelo it was the creation  of the  human body which was paramount. In his depiction of the creation of Adam it is not so much the creation of a man but the creation of a body and this awe in the beauty of the human body is repeated in many of the figures both naked and clothed

Prior to the Renaissance images of God were rare and generally symbolic. In the early Renaissance such image depicted a patriarchal God the Father as an old man, usually with a long beard. Michelangelo’s image of God saw him with almost human qualities. In the second scene, the Creator is fully defined and heroic and we even see a rear view of him with his buttocks visible through purple drapery.

Also included in the exhibition are images of   the lower frescoes in the chapel. Often given less prominence these wall paintings by several artists including Botticelli, Perugino, Ghirlandio and Matteo da Lecce depict the Life of Moses and the Life of Christ. They were all  completed in twenty-five years before Michelangelo began work on the ceiling.

They are impressive  paintings but do not have the same power as those of the Michelangelo works Rather than just tell stories he attempted to create emotional responses through the power of gesture.

Many of these artists were showing off their draughting and painterly skills using the relatively new ideas of perspective with Perugino’s Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter being a fine example. Michelangelo does not use these techniques instead using his knowledge of anatomy to create tactile human figure in three dimensions.

When one compares the naked torsos in The Disputation over Moses’ Body by Matteo da Lecce. with those of Michelangelo’s one can see his consummate understanding of the human figure.

Important to an understanding of the paingtings is the role that the Pope Julius II played in commissioning the works. He was a warrior pope and he chose his papal name not in honour of Pope Julius I but in emulation of Julius Caesar. He was one of the great pre reformation humanists seeing links between the Ancient Greeks and this can be seen in other works he commissioned by Raphael  such as  The School of Athens (also in the Vatican) being painted at the same time as Michelangelo was working on the  Sistine ceiling

Like Julius the individuals faces portrayed are bold and dramatic and filled with energy. Compared to the figures in the lower frescoes these are strong personalities which speak of the need for militant Christians, not the softer versions of the lower frescoes.

Michelangelo’s inventiveness can be seen  in the figures he creates. He has used the faces of ordinary people. He probably used the faces of people he saw in the streets or in the church not the stereotypes normally used. These figures are men and women who walked the streets of the sixteenth century Rome.

Michelangelo’s masterpiece combines the worlds of art, religion, science, and faith in a provocative and awe-inspiring work of art.

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NZ Rustic: The NZ Dream

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

New Zealand Rustic

By Kate Coughlan with Tessa Crisp & Yolanta Woldendorp

Bateman Books

RRP $59.99

Publication Date October 1

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

One of the dreams of many New Zealanders is of a return to nature, living in a house in sympathy with the environment, possibly living off the land, even living off grid.

For many that dream has become a reality and a new book “New Zealand Rustic” highlights that reality with a focus on six houses.

There are a few introductory sections on lighting, texture, colour, natura light and air and styling which help define the formal aspects of good design which are seen in the houses. The major part of the book is devoted to six significant houses from the North and South Islands. There is Manukaru in Queenstown, Ginkgo Point in Omaha, Rumble Bay in Marlborough, Waiau Homestead at Gisborne’s Wainui Beach, Raggedy Ridge House between Alexandra and Omakau, Te Au Homestead near Mahia and Manukard Gard at Glenorchy.

Raggedy Ridge House Image. Tessa Crisp

Each of the houses has a history. The Waiau Homestead at Gisborne’s Wainui Beach began life as a double bay villa on a farm on the East Coast before being moved to its current location, and the severe Raggedy Ridge House which is built among the rocky outcrops of schist seems to made of the local stone forced out of the ground, both an alien intrusion and an almost  organic design connected to the landscape.

Where The Raggedy Ridge House is built of concrete many others are constructed from natural materials. Ginkgo Point has no concrete and the interior use of unpainted timber and recycled material gives the interior spaces a simplicity and warmth which is enhanced by the clever use of light.

The earth house concept is centuries old but more recent ecological concerns have seen many built in the last fifty years. Such homes as Jimma Dillon’s self-built Rumble Bay house. offer excellent insulation, providing stable temperatures that keep them cool in summer and warm in winter. As the author notes of the house “This is a world without the 4×2 rule of conventional building”. It is a house where floors, walls and ceilings blend into a continuous flowing surface like a Hundertwasser creation. the whole building sheltering under 150 tonnes of earth.

Te Au Homestead Image. Brent Darby

Tessa Crisp’s photography captures the drama and isolation of the houses and the landscape they are set in. There are views of rock formations, the sea and mountain ranges, all of them emphasising the both the rugged beauty and the serenity which the New Zealand landscape can offer. She also manages to capture the sense of the intimacy of the interiors where objects give the houses their own individuality. In some cases there are art works which add interest such as Gingko Point House with works by Michael Smither and Tony Lane.

Yolanta Woldendorp has designed stylish book where photographs and text combine to provide an appreciation of the houses – their construction, details of surfaces, decoration and orientation to the surrounding environment.

The book allows the reader / viewer to vicariously enjoy what the owners have enjoyed in their designing, building and decorating of these homes.

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The APO’s captivating musical tour of Rome

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

The Trevi Fountain

The Eternal City

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra

Auckland Town Hall

June 13

Reviewed by John Daly-Peoples

Respighi’s Roman Trilogy takes the listener on a musical tour of Rome with three tone poems which celebrate the city’s fountains, pines and festivals. Along  the way we encounter the architecture, landscape and history  of the city with vibrant music which capture its moods, sounds and spectacles.

The three works were composed over a twelve-year period 1916 – 1928 and the APO presented the three works under the title of The Eternal City.

The programme opened with  Fountains of Rome, the purpose of which the composer said was “to give expression to the sentiments and visions suggested . . . by four of Rome’s fountains, contemplated at the hour in which their character is most in harmony with the surrounding landscape, or in which their beauty appears most impressive to the observer.”

In this work we encounter some of the smaller fountains like the one by the Villa Medici as well as the extravagant Trevi Fountain.

The first part of the work, inspired by the Fountain of Valle Giulia, depicted a pastoral landscape and  captured the early Romas  dawn with the strings and woodwinds.

This was followed by a sudden loud blast of the brass and percussion above the shrill tones of the orchestra, introducing the Triton who raises a conch to his lips and we also hear the sounds of activity around the fountain.


Next, he depicts The Trevi Fountain at midday, the theme, passing from the woodwind to the brass instruments, with the trumpets depicting the dramatic figure of  Neptune,  seahorses and another Triton blowing a conch shell, the sounds of which were depicted by the orchestra’s horns.



The fourth section depicting the Villa Medici Fountain at sunset captures the fading grandeur of the city with is a nostalgic theme and we hear the tolling of bells above the whispering strings of birds twittering.

The work which features much brass and percussion shows us a panoramic Rome filled with a sensory overload of excitement and activity.

The music captures the flow of water from a trickle to torrents with instruments providing flecks of light intermingled in the sprays of water.

The Pines of Rome

The second work, The Pines of Rome had an animated opening with a depiction of the trees around the Villa Borghese mixed  with the sounds of the city. The depiction then moves to the outer areas of the  city with a  melancholic mood in the area of  the catacombs highlighted with hints of the Latin mass .

The pines on the Janiculum Hill were introduced with timpani and gongs, giving a spacious vision, the trees picked out by the piano and clarinet. As though taking its cue from the clarinet comes a recording of a nightingale seeping into the hall only to disappear with the coming of night and the brooding sounds of the ghosts of centurions returning on the Appian Way. These sounds initially seem distant but then as the orchestra’s voice increases a sextet of brass instrument up by the organ let loose some triumphal sounds conveying the drama of Roman pomp and power.

A Roman Carnival

The third of the works “Roman Festivals” opens with  the same dramatic sounds which featured in the depiction of the Appian way. Here the triumphal sounds become the sounds of gladiatorial combat. After this overexcited opening there were some lovely, lethargic orchestral sounds with echoing strings. In the middle sections the music conveys all the excitement, colours and movement of the community festivals. Here conductor Bellincampi was agile in stressing both  the  clamorous sounds as well as the gentler ones.

The final movement featured a strong, slightly discordant section which morphed into  a folksy romanticism which included a mandolin-like sequence, before moving onto  some circus sounds which recall the cinematic compositions of  Nino Rota and his music for Fellini’s 8½ .The final movement ended with some thunderous sounds from the massed orchestra and  percussion, bringing to an end to a  entertaining journey.

The concert featured a number of musicians from the Australian National Academy of Music , as part of an ongoing collaboration with the APO. 

To subscribe or follow New Zealand Arts Review site – www.nzartsreview.org.

The “Follow button” at the bottom right will appear and clicking on that button  will allow you to follow that blog and all future posts will arrive on your email.

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