B-sides

It is impossible to include all the places and objects that we encountered within the confines of the book, and part of the process of putting ‘Vernacular’ together was to select final images. Consensus played a significant part in selection, as we had mildly differing viewpoints on the merit of various things. In other cases, there simply was not enough space for some interesting landscape features, as in the case of a seriously strange set of wide concrete stairs on the riverfront at Waitara. Through the combined effects of subsidence and their staged construction, these stairs (which are for lowering rowing boats into the river) have taken on a remarkable rippled appearance, like waves in concrete.

We were particularly watchful for the place of benches in a variety of contexts, including streets, walking tracks, urban parks and racecourses. One example that interested me for its modular construction was a set of 3 very long blue benches on stepped concrete bases that face into a Westport park. On the other end of the spectrum, in terms of its mass, was a small multi-coloured bench outside a dairy in Takaka. The yellow rail that has been placed on the side of the metal supports appears to provide a perch for small legs to comfortably sit on this bench and eat an ice cream on a hot day (as attested to by the scuffing on the top of that rail).