2000 Down Under

Patrons associated with Wellington International Airport commissioned Dibble to make a sculpture, to be funded from money donated in lieu of presents for the couple’s wedding. Their request was that the work be light-hearted and pay tribute to Wellington’s wind, something for which the city is notorious.

The work produced by Dibble, Down Under, is a figure of a woman standing acrobatically upside down on one grounded hand. Her hair blows across her face, and a bowed shape of leafy props supports her as she performs her stunt.

The title, Down Under, and her upside-down posture, are humorous references to her South Pacific home at the ‘bottom’ of the world, as seen from Europe. There is a headdress of leaves around her head, a bird (the native huia) comically perches on one of her legs, and a curling ribbon blows around her body.

She is mounted on a concrete plinth on the roundabout in front of the entrance to the airport.