Listing Details
Sean Crawford
Sculptor Sean Crawford is Wairarapa based. He works with a range of materials including laser-cut steel and taxidermy.
Crawford began as a plumber’s apprentice. Later, after travelling and living overseas, he studied for a degree in design. Crawford exhibits widely in New Zealand.
One of the highlights of his career has been creating the work ‘The Cloak of Remembrance’ made of laser cut steel and powder coated with red poppies for the New Zealand embassy, in Washington DC.
The Rule of Powder and Fern
Known historically as ‘The Land Wars’, conflict arose (between the 1840’s and 1860’s) over the question of sovereignty/land ownership between the European settlers (colonial government) and affected tribes.
One notable campaign was the engagement between the Kīngitanga movement and the Crown. The government would go on to confiscate land as punishment for tribes that fought against the Crown, leaving a legacy of mistrust and grievance.
This Musket/artwork continues a body of work that involves constructing an object, by creating a laser cut component, and rebuilding the object’s original form with it. In this case, by using a native New Zealand Fern leaf, the meaning of the overall piece is transformed, creating new narratives that the viewer can draw upon.
This work provides an interesting juxtaposition between the technology of the 'Land Wars' (musket) and New Zealand’s natural environment (fern). It also highlights the ideas of a changing type of warfare when compared to the traditional colonial methodology that had been utilised in other countries.
With Māori also having obtained muskets (as well as being able to use the natural environment to their strategic advantage), the conflict veered toward a guerrilla style campaign and provided unexpected resistance to colonial rule. As these indigenous landscapes became ‘theatre’s of engagement’, it was the mechanics of colonial science that sought dominion over Aotearoa’s mystical world of nature.
Remarks: Replica weapon. Laser cut stainless steel ferns, steel extrusion with paint/clear coat render.
Image Dimensions: 1330mm W x 200mm H x 120mm D
