Invitation to my art exhibition on 1 July 2021 - ‘Taxman’s Terrace’ 6 - 8 pm
Dear Mayor Goff
In your 2018 “Vision for Auckland’ Statement you said - “In the longer term, Auckland needs to be a city that encourages the best and brightest New Zealanders to stay in this country and attract the skilled people, entrepreneurs and investments our city and county needs”
Thanks to COVID 19, that vision has been accelerated and all our best and brightest Kiwis are now home, but it may not be for long. Despite Auckland being voted the most livable city in the world recently, this is really only true if you are already wealthy. Then it is of course absolutely amazing. For most of us, the cost of housing, transport and food is more than we can actually afford and our week to week existence is difficult to say the least.
My exhibition is all about the kind of city that would inspire both the best and the brightest of Kiwis to want to stay, but to also be a city that is healing our issues of homelessnes, transport poverty (which is why there is such a congregation of homelessness in the CBD) and enough healthy food in people’s bodies to truly nourish them.
Recently I caught up with a few of my homeless friends from Morningside/Kingsland and I was completely astonished to hear what they had to say… “Kindness is coming back Chris! We can feel it in the streets!”
We all know that change must start from the ground up, and kindness is coming your way too, Phil Goff. You have a very difficult job. I am one of many people in Auckland who would like to constructively help create a beautiful and inspiring city. Together we can truly heal our people, creating well-being at every level of social strata.
Are you aware of the vTaiwan online platforms that the Taiwanese government is using to shape social policy? We need to do this here too. It would be the quickest and easiest way for the voice and intelligence of the people of Auckland to be heard. And we need to hear the voice of Ngā Mana Whenua loud and clear. Their understanding of the world as an integrated system of relationships is exactly what we need to bring health to our city, avert climate change and heal the unjust division of resources between the rich and the poor. I’m not saying that everyone has to have the same rewards in life, but everyone deserves food, shelter, safety and the opportunity to heal from the damage that is created by poverty.
The work being done on our streets putting in cycle lanes and bus lanes simply doesn’t go far enough. We need to completely change the psychology of our city so that cycling and other active modes of transport are what is naturally preferred. This also supports the health of our people and is the cheapest form of travel. Thus my paintings of cycleways in the sky - weather protected, safe from traffic, no hills. Someone living in West Auckland could commute to university in 20 minutes for free on one of these cycle lanes.
Or the pedestrianised greening of our streets through establishing urban farms, where our currently homeless neighbours could find community, learn to care for themselves and finally be provided with truly healthy nutrition on a daily basis.
Let’s bring back our Queen St River - Waihorotiu. Let’s bring her back to the light through Myers Park and Aotea Square and then bring her all the way down the middle of Queen St. There is already so much concrete. Queen St would become a famous attraction if pedestrianising meant that each side of the street was a beautiful boulevard with outdoor dining overlooking a beautiful stream canal. The pedestrian crossings could be criss-crossed over bridges and the buses could have bridges perpendicular to the flow of the stream.
It could be done, it would make Queen St one of the most beautiful in the world.
"To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing." — Pamela Haines
Please come to my exhibition, I and my friends would like to have further conversation with you on these matters.
Kind regards
Chris Dewsy.
#taxmansterrace 🌈
All Photos thanks to Monstervalley
St Kevins Arcade. Oil on Linen 30”x40”
Under the checked floor runs the town's water supply, as the dark squares in the painting are transparent it gives one the feeling as though they are walking on water! Bringing life to the building and allowing the AHGC and mother nature to grow wherever they may choose.
Myers Park. Oil on Linen 24”36”
“Venise with Volcanoes”
Horotiu Stream once ran from Myers Park all the way down to the waterfront. It still flows beneath the streets today but is continually pumped out to keep road structures stable. Large reservoirs on the corner of K’road and Ponsonby road are still found running through Albert park to downtown. Let's bring it back! This would send a strong message to tourists about the value we place on our natural environment, bringing back plantlife and animals back into the heart of our city.
In doing so we have the chance to highlight Auckland's diversity and cultural richness. As we enjoy a strong Mana Whenua presence which gives New Zealand its unique culture and point of difference to the rest of the world. Auckland is the largest Polynesian city in the world and draws strength from its European, Asian and diverse ethnic community. Let's keep celebrating this fact with the amazing food you can find in st. Kevins with a Waka ride downtown for a drink afterwards!
Waihorotiu Restoration
Keep the footpaths at their current level, but remove the four-lanes of traffic, dig down a bit (some interesting old brick drains to highlight and make a feature out of in parts too) and restore the old Horotiu stream. Bring some plant-life and animal life back to the heart of Auckland.
Undoubtedly such a project would be really expensive, but a bold vision for dramatically changing Auckland’s central city. Furthermore, by restoring the stream (rather than creating a flow of water where there never really was one), such a project would have a sense of authenticity that would be essential to its success.
This project has all ready been undertaken in Seoul that has some similarities: the restoration of Cheonggyecheon: a river the used to run through the heart of Seoul, until it was paved over in the mid-2oth century to build an elevated freeway and now...
The complaints about increased traffic elsewhere disappeared, just as the traffic did. Ridership on the adjacent subways increased, some people changed their travel times, some changed route, but mostly, people just stopped travelling so much through the area. Adjacent traffic congestion increased less than 1.5%, but overall there was a concurrent 2.5% decrease in Central Business District traffic. Property values adjacent to the stream increased 30%, and businesses prospered as they were suddenly adjacent to a site where there were more than 50 Million visits during the first year. The air temperature in this part of the Central Business District dropped several degrees during Seoul’s hot, humid summers, as the water flow acted as natural air conditioner and created a conduit for cool breezes. All this in a public place for festivals, for lunch, for art, for living space.
Grafton. Oil on Linen 24”x36”
Industrial Resolution
An Elevated cycle lane linking Auckland 12 corridors of transport is the only possible way to end the war between cyclists and motorists. The vision for this painting was born at the same time in the minds of a fellow artist and I. We shared our common vision and I painted it.
The idea is to put cycle lanes in the sky along the main 12 transport corridors of Auckland. These
will be safe from other traffic, without hindrance from hills and weather protected. With beautiful design and additional viewing platforms, this idea would transform the lives and health of Aucklanders. Free to use, it would alleviate poverty and isolation due to lack of funds to pay for trains or buses. It would aid and support good physical health and be an extraordinary tourist attraction for visitors from around the world. We have a beautiful city and this would be an incredible way for people to see with minimal disruption to the everyday life of those that live here.
AHGC (Auckland Homeless Gardening Committee)
To end homelessness in Auckland
“I want Auckland to be an inclusive city where no one if forced to sleep rough, or in vehicles or emergency accommodation, because no alternatives are open to them” - Mayor Goff
Mr Mayoral proposes to embed operational funding of $500,000 to help move towards the realisation of our vision that all Aucklanders have a place to call home. As tackling climate change will be our biggest challenge in history, we will require a response at a global and national level. As a city we must show leadership for our grandchildren and help those in need. From personal experience every conversation I’ve had with a homeless person in Auckland has highlighted the common issue that is their mental health. After suggesting a small amount of money in return for some gardening, 100% of the time they agree!
According to ‘Psychology Today’ Research has shown Most of our suffering comes from trying to control things that we can't. The more we can accept the limits of our control and the unpredictability of life, the more peace of mind we can find—and gardening is a great way to practice. "Every day is one more reminder from Mother Nature that I'm not in control,"
Te whakatupu i ō tātou ngahere tuawhenua, tāone hoki. Grow our rural and urban ngahere (forest)
We need to follow the principles of knowing the benefits of trees in the Auckland region, growing the right tree in the right place, protecting existing trees and growing the right foods in the right climates.
The Growing Hope Gardens In Los Angeles is a perfect example of this becoming a reality. So let's put more funding towards the teaching and management of our cities homeless and give them the opportunity they deserve to be apart of society. - Auckland Council
Queens wharf. Oil on Linen 24”x36”
In 2018, Auckland Council unanimously voted Queen St to be pedestrianised, yet I drove down it yesterday! Did you know this major commercial thoroughfare has New Zealand's largest black Carbon footprint? Well it wouldn't if it looked like this...