Spinning Top, 2003, Wellington

Stainless steel / 2900 x 3500mm
Woodward Street

Funded by the Jack and Emma Griffin Charitable Trust.

Robert Jahnke is renowned for creating artworks that weave together political messages with deep explorations of Māori culture and New Zealand history. In his 2003 commission situated in Wellington’s CBD, Jahnke crafted a series of Māori spinning tops or ‘pōtaka’, each adorned with a rich pictorial history of Wellington. The upper side of the pōtaka features symbolic imagery, including the Beehive (Wellington’s political hub), a church symbolising the arrival of Christianity, the sea and its bounty, the legendary harbour taniwha (supernatural sea- creatures), and other cultural motifs. The artwork also playfully nods to the site’s past, referencing an old vehicle turntable that once occupied the location.