Jeffrey Harris, ‘The Jasmine Pathway’ (1978), Dunedin City Library, Ōtepoti Dunedin

Image: Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, Public Art Heritage Aotearoa New Zealand, 2021

Reid Farmers Ltd

Dunedin Public Libraries

Dunedin City Council

Ground Floor, Dunedin City Library, 230 Moray Place, CBD, Ōtepoti Dunedin

The Jasmine Pathway

Jeffrey Harris was born in Akaroa. Rather than attend art school, he moved to Dunedin in 1969 to study directly from the painter Michael Smithers. Harris also received support and guidance from Ralph Hōtere.

Painting and exhibiting full-time from 1970, in 1977 Harris was awarded the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship at the University of Otago. After a short time in the USA, Harris moved to Australia in 1986, returning to Dunedin in 2000. Harris was recognised with a James Wallace Art Award in 2003, and was the subject of a monograph by Justin Paton published in 2005.

Harris's paintings typically use symbolic or narrative-based imagery. He revisits motifs exploring them as 'incomplete stories', construction composition of gesturing or pointing figures, typically within a recognisable, local landscape.