Peaceable Kingdom by Brit Bunkley & Andrea Gardner, 2020

With this playful sculpture, Gardner and Bunkley proposed to welcome dogs into Whanganui’s CBD. The 3D-printed plastic canines sit atop furniture that would suggest a living room or parlour and yet are mounted high above passers-by, like welcoming watchdogs.

The unexpected “guardians or mischievous pets”, as described by the artists, were inspired in part by a previous public artwork they created as part of the 2017 Sculpture in the Garden at Auckland Botanic Gardens.

The title for this artwork comes from the Bible passage (often called “Peaceable Kingdom”) Isaiah, chapter 11 which alludes to a harmonious world where animals that are normally predator and prey sit side by side with each other. This artwork can be understood as a secular interpretation of this passage.