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The sleeping spine starting to dream.
Free hand pencil 297mm x 420mm.
Dragonfly's ink and acrylic, 210mm X297mm, with butter paper wings. Digital photograph. -
The mapped back. The world famous Raurimu Spiral, a segment of the “The main trunk line” reminded me of the shape of a sleeping man.
Original historic map of the Main trunk line, New Zealand railways.
Digital photograph. -
The threading needle and falling train.
Free hand pencil 210mm x 297mm. Eye of the needle, free hand pencil 297mm x 420mm. Steam train, free hand pencil 150mm x 840mm. -
The shocked eye, on point of contact as the train plunges into the Whangaehu River.
Free hand acrylic 205mm x 140mm.
Origional photograph Tangiwai rail disaster.
The following works depict the journey of a surreal dream and were my first project at Unitec in the first semester of 2010.
These drawings move through a dream memory to tell the tragic story of the Tangiwai railway disaster of 1953.
One hundred and fifty-six lives were lost that night in New Zealand’s fifth worst disaster in recorded history.
The starting place for this journey was the seeking spine ( slide one ). The drawing of the seeking spine has a strong connection to me personally because I have a damaged spine and have in the past, dreamed that it could take flight. The Dragonfly’s were a response to the movement in the spine which led me to think of water. The black and white photograph of my husband sleeping, brought to mind the sleeping spine starting to dream.
From there the word play of spine, track, back bone, trunk line led me to think of a railway track. Which then progressed to “The main trunk line” in reference to the main trunk line that connects Auckland to Wellington. I was taken with how an old map (see map below) of the Raurimu Spiral – a world famous masterpiece of civil engineering, which is located on the main trunk line – looked like the shape of a sleeping man. The natural progression from there was to lay an opaque photograph of my husband sleeping underneath a historical map of this location, thus creating the mapped back illustration (slide two).
The drawings move on to tell the tragic story of the Tangiwai railway disaster of 1953 which happened on the “main trunk line” on Christmas eve. One hundred and fifty−six lives were lost that night in New Zealand’s fifth worst disaster in recorded history as the Auckland night express plunged into the flooded Whangaehu River at Tangiwai. The drawing of through the needle (slide three), depicts the railway train falling through the gap of the railway track which is stitched by needles.
In a medical text book I found a picture of eye like shapes floating in the spinal fluid between human intervertebral discs. This discovery connected with my surreal and tragic journey, bringing to mind connections between: eyes and memories with the old saying that the eyes are like the windows to our soul, where our memories are held: the shock of the icy water of the Whangaehu River as the train plunged in brought to mind the shocked eye (slide four) on point of contact and the painful memories this left behind.
In remembrance of the Tangiwai disaster, 60 years ago on 24 December 1953.
The Tangiwai disaster is New Zealand’s worst ever rail accident. It occurred on 24 December 1953 when the Whangaehu River bridge collapsed beneath a Wellington to Auckland express passenger train at Tangiwai, in the central North Island of New Zealand. The locomotive and first six carriages derailed into the river, killing 151 people. The Board of Inquiry into the accident found that it was caused by the collapse of the tephra dam holding back nearby Mount Ruapehu’s crater lake creating a large lahar in the Whangaehu River, which destroyed one of the bridge piers at Tangiwai only minutes before the train reached the bridge.
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were visiting New Zealand on their first royal tour when the disaster occurred. The Queen made her Christmas broadcast from Auckland, finishing with a message of sympathy to the people of New Zealand. Prince Philip attended a state funeral for many of the victims.
Tangiwai memorial unveiled for unsung heroes Click here to go to the article.