'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.
According to Wikipaedia (which, along with the Internet, didn't exist when I did this watercolour in 1987) '... a marae is a communal or sacred place which serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the word also means "cleared, free of weeds, trees, etc"'.
All over New Zealand maraes, centred around their meeting houses, exist. To me, they always give off the same numinous air, quite spiritual and often forbidding.
I particularly liked the naive, carefully detailed flourishes of the warning notice. It seemed to have much more authority than one that might have been done by an Opotiki signwriter.
© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
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