by Marianne Gillingham

A tiny part of the world’s fastest-rising country has landed in Gisborne in the form of four tonnes of bronze, crafted into a sculpture of significant proportions.

The sculpture is Evolution, showing the evolution of one of the world’s oldest sports, archery, from Roman times, through the imperial era to contemporary.

It has been gifted to the city by the Beijing Olympic Sculpture committee and China’s Ministry of Culture, who also chose Gisborne as one of only 12 cities around the world outside China to host the collection of much smaller templates for sculptures submitted to commemorate the Beijing Olympic Games.

Gisborne captured the imagination of the Chinese Olympic Committee when Mayor Meng Foon brought it to their attention that the city was the first in the world to see the sun rise.

For the Chinese, this and the fact that the city is centred around the confluence of three rivers, was viewed as highly auspicious and they were keen to form a closer relationship here.

Representatives of the Beijing Olympic Sculpture Committee hosted here at the time of the September 2007 exhibition, were so impressed with the city and its welcome, that they advocated the gift of a full-sized sculpture to Gisborne.

The Evolution sculpture, by Guangdong sculptor Zengkang Lu, was selected and offered to Gisborne last year.

Mayor Meng Foon said its journey to Gisborne had been made possible by the generosity of the Williams trust and Councillor Brian Wilson, who were also paying to have it installed here.

Mayor Foon said the sculpture was much bigger than he realised. Like him, Mr Wilson was amazed at the quality and scale of the gift, which will be kept under wraps until a formal unveiling.

Part of the bows of the three archers had to be cut down in order to ship it here and the sculpture will be unveiled after these have been restored.

“It is very impressive,” said Mr Wilson.

As an active supporter and member of the Art in Public Places Trust, he believes the sculpture will give a tremendous boost to the trust’s vision of making Gisborne a centre of visual arts.

The council originally wanted to turn down the sculpture offer to save ratepayers the cost of shipping and installing it.

Mr Wilson went to the Mayor and offered to pay these costs but asked for anonymity because there was an election pending at the time and he did not want to be accused of trying to sway it.

His enthusiasm was partly due to his association with the Olympic Games as a coach of the hugely- successfully New Zealand kayak team in 1982.

But he also believed it was a great thing for Gisborne that the Chinese government was offering the city something like this.

The death of his wife Philippa in a freak tramping accident last year gave the donation even greater meaning for him, as she had been hugely supportive of it.

Mr Wilson hopes the sculpture will be placed alongside the Taruheru riverbank walkway, but this will depend on public feedback.

The Art in Public Places Trust wants to put sculptural works right along the walkway, with the section from Gladstone Road to the Waikanae Cut illustrating navigation themes, and other parts catering for a wide range of themes.

“Hopefully, Evolution will inspire others to become corporate sponsors for other works,” Mr Wilson said.

“We want all sorts of arts, not just one theme,” he said.

But he believes the Chinese sculpture will always be unique, unless there are some other exceptionally generous donors.