St Luke Arrives at Te Papa

2023, oil on plywood, 572 x 572mm.

Not long after completing the St Lukes Tauranga Liturgical Calendar, Joseph showed me a small book on The Book of Kells which is an ancient illuminated manuscript of the Bible. It is gorgeous and will no doubt influence the direction of future work. At the same time I was reading about The Battle of Gate Pa here in Tauranga and it struck me what an impact the Christian message had on our history. In the heat of the battle, local Maori defending their homelands displayed premeditated kindness towards an Empire that was robbing them. This was due to the code of conduct they adhered to, which was the product of Christian teachings from the missionaries. The first gospel in Te Reo was the book of Luke. The graphic in the centre of this painting is a symbolic depiction of St Luke as a calf from the Book of Kells.
This work was selected as a finalist in the New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Awards 2023