In bloom was developed by artist Steve Carr during his 2020 residency at McCahon House in nearby French Bay. Cast in bronze from car tyres and planted with indigenous weed varieties, the work reframes the surrounding views from the rooftop of historic Lopdell House, where it will be displayed throughout the summer. Through these contrasts, we can reflect on permanence and change, the unnatural and natural, things left to waste and others that grow with the seasons.

In bloom has been exhibited throughout Aotearoa over the past year and is replanted anew by local designers at each site. Now returning to Titirangi, this task has fallen to local landscape architect Winston Dewhirst, who has selected a range of indigenous weeds, referencing attempts to clear them for farming from Titirangi’s hilly terrain and the surrounding region.

Considered a nuisance, so-called weeds like Matagouri and Tauhinu (Tawhini) persistently return to cleared land, and their tyre-puncturing spines make them undesirable on any farm. This planting is a collection of these native weeds, a patch of pests, who by their nature thrive in exposed environments. Gnarled and scruffy, their wild character complements the seemingly discarded pile of tyres, which themselves carry the language of use, reuse and reincarnation – from westie car culture and lawn ornaments to planter boxes, retaining walls, tyre swings, and a multitude of other applications in between.