Saving the Hutt’s Public Art Heritage

Public artworks are more than simple decoration. They hold stories of place, identity and change. When the spaces around them shift, those stories can be at risk. Who carries responsibility for protecting heritage works, and how do we ensure they remain part of our shared future?

The early spark for The Wheel of Avalon began when artist Bronwyn Holloway-Smith was invited to Avalon TV Studios in her role as Co-Director of Public Art Heritage Aotearoa New Zealand. There, viewing Bill McCardle’s mosaic mural, she reflected: “The story of the mural feels like a metaphor for the rise and fall of Avalon Studios.”

Join Holloway-Smith for an engaging and thought-provoking talk exploring this work alongside a Guy Ngan mural in Naenae and a piece by E. Mervyn Taylor in Taita. Together, these three recent projects reveal different approaches to safeguarding the Hutt’s public art heritage and open a conversation about what proactive, future-focused care and preservation of public art could look like in the years ahead.
Dr Bronwyn Holloway-Smith (Pākehā) is an award-winning conceptual artist, author, and researcher. Her interdisciplinary practice spans public art, digital media and deep-dive research, often focused on the tangled legacies of cultural memory, Pākehā identity, and the politics of preservation. She lives on Pōneke's rugged south coast with her partner and their three offspring.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Dowse Art Museum, 45 Laings Road, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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