Vivienne Mountfort

Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1918, d.2004

Life Is Like A Long Braided River

  • 1990
  • New Zealand flax (phormium tenax) on handmade flax paper and mineral dye.
  • Purchased 1996
  • 2400 x 1200mm
  • 96/58

This work is inspired by the Waimakariri River flowing from the Main Divide of the Southern Alps and, according to Mountfort, 'the braided flow and flurry of the river suggests the many paths and rhythms our lives might take. This analogy, between a river and a human life, is very ancient and is celebrated in Palaeolithic cave drawings and in the writings of psychologist, Wilhelm Reich.'

Exhibition History