Untitled [Dunedin Dental School]

1957

Guy Ngan

Accessible

Type

  • Mural

Medium

  • Ceramic

Dimensions

  • Approx 800 sq. ft. / 74 m²

Guy Ngan, ‘Untitled’ (1957), School of Dentistry, Main Campus, University of Otago, North Dunedin, Ōtepoti Dunedin

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

1957–Current

North and south façades of Lecture Hall, School of Dentistry (35 Frederick St), Main Campus, University of Otago, North Dunedin, Ōtepoti Dunedin

Artists
Credit

University of Otago Art Collection

Associated Artwork Person(s)
Associated Artwork Organisation(s)

Description

Ngan’s murals for the Dunedin Dental School Lecture Hall exterior were completed the same year as the Engineering School Lecture Hall exterior at Canterbury University in nearby Ōtautahi Christchurch.

The two murals (one at each end of the building) consist of a geometric pattern of interlocking forms in burnt sienna and black tiles. One shows three forms, the other a larger single pattern. The tiles have a crazed pattern picked out in white.

In a 2011 oral history recording, Ngan explained that he was not given much funding for the work, so he made the mural from recycled broken floor tiles.