Anne Kay

In Deep Shadow, 1999

Materials: fabric, watercolour

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This work was part of a month-long artist initiated, site-specific project called Oblique, in Otira, a former railway town in New Zealand. The work began from research into the history of the area which revealed that the surrounding mountains had been popular subjects for 19th century New Zealand landscape painters, such as Peter Van der Velden. Several stylised reproductions of this genre of painting were hung throughout the Otira Hotel. During the course of the project, I painted watercolour landscapes onto the backs of dyed green shirts that were a gift from the artist Josie Cavallaro. One of these was placed in the Tearoom of the hotel, near a selection of landscape pictures. I had to get permission from Anza (a worker at the hotel) to place the work there. At first she thought I was mad but later she was the resident in the town that took most interest in the artworks and attended many of the artist's talks.