The Lighthouse is a sculpture by infamous artist Michael Parekowhai. Sitting at the end of Queen’s Wharf, this work is a scaled down version of classic 1950s New Zealand state house. A lighthouse welcomes sailors home, and a statehouse was once offered not only to returning solders from the world wars but also those who needed help in hard times.

It is with an sense of irony that Parekowhai plays with these ideas, as at the time of installation in 2018, the New Zealand government was destroying many state houses and evicting their inhabitants.

The inside of this statehouse is filled with an array of squiggly wiggly neon light tubes meant to call to mind celestial constellations – also adding to idea of a lighthouse. In the midst of the neon sits a large, highly polished stainless steel sculpture of Captain Cook. This version of Cook, reminiscent of Rodin’s The Thinker, looks worried and tired rather than a heroic British explorer. There is something wrong here, something wrong with this whole situation.

This sculpture is located on Queen’s Wharf, Auckland CBD, Auckland, New Zealand.

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The Lighthouse: Tū Whenua-a-Kura – Michael Parekowhai

The Lighthouse: Tū Whenua-a-Kura – Michael Parekowhai

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