B.

Bill Sutton began his long affiliation with the upper Waimakariri River area in his teenage years during the Great Depression, he and his elder brother Len spending several Christmases at Bealey with an aunt and uncle who had taken work there as a roadman. He later described the place getting under his skin as he and Len explored the area’s windblown tussocky hills and dry riverbeds. Soon after, in 1936, a single-lane bridge was opened on State Highway 73 across Bruce Creek, a flood-prone tributary previously crossable only by ford. Sutton returned to the region after two years’ art study and travel in London and Europe in 1947–9, bringing memory along with fresh eyes for a familiar landscape.

(From Here on the Ground, 18 May – 17 November 2024)