Lara Hattingh said her Rankeilor St mural, featuring a tūī and harakeke, was the first ‘‘big’’ piece she had finished in New Zealand, although she had recently completed large murals in South Africa, where she hailed from.
‘‘All my work is about botany and plants and as an immigrant, I wanted to bring that passion that I’ve always had for the plants back home into the plant life here,’’ she said.
‘‘I was especially drawn to harakeke, as it’s close to the water, and that part of South Dunedin is close to the water. It’s reclaimed land, and people have a lot of pride in that.’’
Tūī loved harakeke and were one of her favourites — ‘‘so it all worked together’’.
She said creating murals in public was somewhat of a performance, and she loved the role the community played in it.
‘‘This is their path to work, this is their path to the shops, this is part of their daily lives, so to see them be invested and chat to us and have questions ... I love that part.’’
She worked with assistant Anna Collin on the piece.
The mural is one of eight featured in Ebb and Flow — a street art festival organised by the South Dunedin Street Art Trail, which features large-scale, live mural painting and street art workshops.
