Tekapo has its ‘odd couple’

Press, 16 May 1985, Page 19

Tekapo has its ‘odd couple’

JOHN FRIDD

By

He sits slumped in a deckchair, clad only in shabby underpants and clutching his false teeth in one hand as he sleeps in the sun. She wears only a short skirt and bra, a can of Lion Brown spilling from a pocket. If this odd couple sitting outside the Tekapo Gallery were real they would probably be told to move on, but

they are actually life-size rag dolls created by a Wellington artist, Vai GriffithJones.

The pair have been sitting outside the gallery for three months now and in that short time they become a tourist attraction in their own right, almost rivalling the Church of the Good Shepherd. Buses stop as tourists spot the pair and laughter can often be heard as someone’s sense of humour is tickled.

Mrs Shirley O’Connor, owner of the Tekapo Gallery, got the idea after seeing an unusual exhibition called “Stuffed Stuff’ in Timaru last year featuring life-size soft dolls made by six Wellington women.

“I wanted to put something artistic in front of my gallery and thought that a couple of these dolls would be ideal,” she said. The couple are very lifelike in skin colouring and detail, which even extends to an unfinished postcard the woman clutches in her

hand, along with a cloth ballpoint pen. The couple have had a fairly hard time since they arrived in Lake Tekapo. They have been prodded, pushed, sat on, and photographed endlessly by tourists and with tourists. One little boy was caught thumping the "woman” viciously, obviously taking out his frustrations.

The couple have not been welcomed by everyone in Lake Tekapo — there was talk of one woman starting a petition to have them removed, branding them “disgusting,” but nothing came of it. It seems that until they wear out, the odd couple will be fixtures in the Lake Tekapo shopping area.