Wonders of Whakatane - The World's First Vertigraph

I'm in New Zealand

These days I am in the Land of the Long White Cloud, visiting my parents who live here. More exactly, in the small town of Whakatane, situated on the Bay of Plenty, on the North Island. Other than my folks there is not a lot here, but if you look carefully, you can find bits of interesting things everywhere. One such example is the World's First Vertigraph.

A Mural on a Set of Stairs

Just like the most recent feature in my Murals of Mexico series, if you paint a picture on the vertical sides of some stairs, it will give you a neat image looking at it from the distance. This is called a Vertigraph, as I learned from an information panel next to Whakatane's own stair-art.

From the Depths of the Ocean to Outer Space

Since the stairs that hold Whakatane's vertigraph are rather tall, it is quite appropriate that it should involve a wide theme. In this case, it depicts nature, starting with marine life, rising to the shore, following a river mouth through the forest, up into the canopy of the trees, and above it to the air, and even beyond the reaches of our planet's atmosphere, into space.

Along the way we can see creatures from the deep ocean, such as crustaceans and octopi, to sea-horses and eels who prefer the shallower waters. Once on land, the picture is dominated by shells and gulls, before switching to fresh water fowl, such as the endemic pukeko. Further up, we can see the iconic kiwi, before the view shifts up from the ground to the first flowery shrubs. Next we can see the tui and the local pigeon, of which there are so many in these parts, before reaching up into the tops of the tall trees. Eventually, beyond the red sky of a picturesque sunset, we get a glimpse of the moon, stars, and some nebulae.

A bit Faded, but still the First

The info panel also informs us, that this particular piece is the first such Vertigraph of the world! Very impressive, especially considering that it was created in 2007, by a group of 14 local artists, according to the design of Colin Hughes. The entire work consists of 43 planes of tiles, glazed at the local Cheddar Valley Pottery. However, since the last time I visited ten years ago, the colors have faded quite a bit, some tiles are broken, and others are missing entirely. Nevertheless, it is still a beautiful work of art, something Whakatane can still be proud of. And no matter how old it gets, it will never stop being the first of its kind.