After winning a prize at the 2004 ILT (Invercargill Licensing Trust) Art Awards show for “Keeper of the Roses”, I accepted an invitation to exhibit a series of paintings at Anderson Park Art Gallery to celebrate 150 Years of Southland in 2006.

Fresh to the province, I was concerned I didn’t know Southland well enough for the commission. It would seem, looking back over well over a decade on, the fresh eyes I brought to my new home land helped record a series of iconic moments of time that have already passed.