B.

Installation works by Margaret Finnerty were displayed at the Robert McDougall Art Gallery as part of the Artists Projects scheme.

For the work Essence (1984), the central element was a heavy black stone which was once used by the Kaikoura Maoris as an anchor stone. Attached to this were silk threads which travelled to a four-sided box made of concrete reinforcing mesh that hung freely in space, enclosing the stone.

In her artist statement, Finnerty has said about this work:

"The stone represents that which anchors the human mind be it soul or whatever else you call it. It is the complete essence of existence that will never die. The threads represent life itself: its fragility and its paradoxical beauty. The mesh shows the categorisation of the living, the ordered boxes that people are imprisoned in. The thread, being joined to both extremes, shows the journey of life. Overall the work can stand for the human mind, the room that is not a room; or on a more universal level, existence itself."