S is for statue: Katherine Mansfield in Midland Park, Wellington

Katherine Mansfield sculpture in Midland Park, Wellington

I went looking for this statue this morning while we were pottering around Wellington doing some admin and shopping.

From Stuff.co.nz, 2013:

"The words of Katherine Mansfield will illuminate a little corner of Lambton Quay after a three-metre- high statue of the renowned New Zealand writer was unveiled yesterday.

The statue, by sculptor Virginia King, is the fruit of three years work between the Wellington Sculpture Trust, the Katherine Mansfield Society and the Wellington City Council. It will stand at the corner of Midland Park.

Lit up from inside, the steel figure of Wellington-born Mansfield is covered in passages of her writing. Even her hair is made up of shopping lists found in her journals.

Guests at the unveiling included Ben Galloway, from Auckland, who spent many hours welding the figure together, meeting the sculptor's exacting standards. "I've spilt my fair share of blood, sweat and tears on it, especially the inside . . . It will last for years," he said.

Before the unveiling by mayor Celia Wade-Brown, Mansfield interpreter Cathy Downes performed The Doll's House, one of the author's most famous short stories.

Sculpture Trust project manager Jon Craig said Mansfield was synonymous with New Zealand.

"While in Siberia, at the English-speaking school in Novosibirsk, I was asked where I came from. New Zealand, I said . . . in an instant the reply came back, 'Katherine Mansfield'.""