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Silent People

Image by Keith Miller

Silent People

Artist Chris Booth
Year
Location Above the water feature, next to the stairs to the Public Library
Tour directions Walk towards the public library building at the western end of Civic Square

A lily by any other name

The ever-present New Zealand cabbage tree is actually the world's largest breed of lily.

Sculpture background

Taranaki andesite boulders are threaded onto steel rods and set among tussock grass and cabbage trees.

The transport of the boulders for Silent People from Taranaki to Wellington has been compared with the 19th-century movement of tribes from Taranaki to Wellington.

Booth is an active conservationist. Silent People peeks out unobtrusively from behind the cabbage trees, perhaps reflecting a proposed ideal relationship between humans and the environment.

Only half of the sculpture is located in Civic Square. The other half is at at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. This is because Te Papa and the Wellington City Council co-purchased Silent People.