Gorses for courses

By Lauren Bartlett, June 24, 2007 @ 11 pm

A new use for a stubborn pest

The New Dowse has recently been overgrown by the latest exhibition from Regan Gentry. The exhibition features gorse as you’ve never seen (or felt) it before—as toilet paper, toilet seats, soap, perfume, wine and a variety of sculptures.

Gentry says it examines the history of colonial New Zealand. “Gorse is something I’ve been noticing over the last 15 years. People in the ‘art world’ yap on about identity, and this is an obvious link to our identity, in terms of farming and colonisation.”

The exhibition also examines the use of gorse as a resource, for both design and product production.

“Gorse is seen as a pain in the arse, but essentially it’s a giant resource. If we can utilise it, then we’re sitting on a gold mine.”

Still, creating the exhibition wasn’t easy—not only did Gentry have difficulty collecting the gorse; he also found it a technically challenging material to work with. The silicon contained in the wood easily blunts tools, and the wood is flexible. “I’d spend ages carving a straight piece, and then by the next morning it’d be twisted again.”

Gentry hopes after seeing the exhibition people will think twice about gorse and its uses—and the council will love you if you do.

Originally published in Idealog #10, page 26