2008 The Sleepwalker

The Sleepwalker was originally part of an exhibition at Gow Langsford Gallery in 2008 titled “Paradise”. The exhibition examined New Zealand’s creation myths and legends of the demigod Māui.

The figure in the artwork is based loosely on Māui, making the leap into the unknown as in his quest for immortality. He has a placid expression and a lackadaisical stride, giving rise to the title.  By intention, the profile also resembles the portraits of Māori sketched by Sydney Parkinson on Captain James Cook’s first voyage to New Zealand. 

This was one of the first sculptures in which Dibble began using Corten steel as a component. Here it has been prefabricated into two architectural upright structures that function as an entranceway. The rust red coating of the Corten and the sharp angles of the uprights contrast with the sensuous, modelled figure with its expressive splashes of patina.

The sculpture was initially purchased for a domestic garden on the clifftop of Sumner, a seaside suburb in Christchurch. The 2011 Christchurch earthquake caused a massive subsidence, and for several years the sculpture was stranded at the bottom of a pile of rubble. But, as part of the Christchurch rebuild, the work was eventually retrieved, and re-sited in the inner city at “The Crossing”.