"This sensitive and evocative work is a statement which needs little explanation. The artist came across a dead baby seal washed up at Kaimaumau in Northland. He melted silicon bronze in a portable foundry, pouring it on the sand where the seal was found. He placed nikau and palm fronds and shells around it. Manuka or tea-tree, a common New Zealand wood, was used for the splint framework which forms the grid. 'The comment I wanted the sculpture to make is my concern about the disastrous effects humans are having on our natural environment – particularly their exploitation of the sea.' - Chris Booth.”

Source: ‘Aotea Centre Works of Art’, p.10

An information panel installed with the work reads:

“I tūpono te ringatoi nei ki tētahi punua kekeno i mate i Kaimaumau, i Te Taitokerau. I hanga te whakapakoko mā te ringi i te matū rauwhero takawai ki te onepū i te wāhi i kite ai te kekeno. I āta whakatakoto atu, āmio nei, i ngā rau Nīkau me ngā kotakota ki te mahi toi.

“I whakamahi i ētahi rākau o te Mānuka, he rākau kaha kitea i Aotearoa, hei angaanga mō te tukutuku.

“‘Ko tōku hiahia, kia kōrero tēnei whakapakoko i ngā hua kino kua pāngia ki tō tātou taiao e te tangata – ina koa, te kaiapoapotia o te moana’.”

See also:

• Tara Werner, Karen Scherer, Katherine Findlay, Aotea Centre Women's Committee et al., ‘Aotea Centre: Works of Art’, (Aotea Centre: 1992)

• Baby Seal at Kaimaumau, Auckland Live website