Sledge.

2003.

Materials: Glass, Pinus Radiata

Dimensions (L x W x H): 2000mm x 800mm x 400mm

Sledge was first exhibited at SNOWWHITE Gallery, Unitec, in my final year of art training.

Here a reconfigured snow sled is capable of carrying a cradled human, like the rescue sleds of the modern era, but styled and constructed as a traditional child’s toy. Similarly Joseph Beuys’ Sled, 1969 being described as, “a survival kit“, Sledge is the survival kit for navigating across the Southern Alps of Aotearoa. This discourse can only occur if we are brought up reading Rupert the Bear, and other such stories in the sub-tropical climate. We are told that winter’s arrival means we go snow-sledding. Living in Auckland, New Zealand, this could not be further from the truth, yet we still question our parents as to why we cannot slide down a snow covered bank. The expectation to look toward the colonial homeland for guidance has fooled us once again into “Dreaming of a White Christmas.”