Flow by Catherine Macdonald, 2025

The idea for the Flow mural began as a dream by a local group of business owners and creatives to have a poetry trail along Guyton Street. The Guyton Street Poetry Trail developed by the Guyton Group Trust aims to showcase New Zealand’s literary talents as well as utilising talented visual artists and designers in our community.

Catherine Macdonald drew inspiration from the poem she depicts, Flow, by award-winning writer Airini Beautrais. The artist's use of muddy ochres, pale yellows and smoky blue-greys mimic the shifting tones of the Whanganui River and Beautrais’ rhythmic poem.

The font and format were informed by Catherine's experience with printmaking and letterpress, with each letter of the poem individually pressed on.

Catherine says, “Having the chance to work at a large scale and bring art and literature into a public place has been an exciting challenge. Airini’s poem Flow is a personal favourite, I’m so happy that I’ve got to work with it.”