Saint Mary's Ahuriri

BRIAN CULY

Saint Mary's Ahuriri, 2026

hahnemuhle photo rag with archival pigment inks

edition of 10 

1320 x 870 mm print size   /   1400 x 950 mm with frame approx.

$2,000 unframed   $2,850 framed - black box frame

$3,400 framed non reflective glass

This was such an unexpected project, and one I knew was not entirely my right to do. I had no history with the building, except to drive past it most days, and was always intrigued as to what was inside. I loved the building from an architectural point of view but having only lived in Hawke’s Bay for 20 years I hadn’t been aware of its incredible History.

The building however was also admired so much by a local couple Tony Baylis and Dane Gail, who had done their research, tried to purchase it and failed. They would have been the perfect couple, a builder and interior designer that could have taken this building and given it the new life it deserved. Sadly it was not to be, so they approached me to give them at least some memory of it. They commissioned me to photograph it, but with an open brief. I thought the interior was the most visually interesting aspect of the building to photograph but somehow it needed to reflect the spriit it still held.

Something drove me to not only document the interior but to bring that spirit back to life. Enter all the ghostly figures that had been before. The church and it’s Holy tenants that were there before the Napier earthquake, the children that went to Sunday school, the Line Dances and the Musicians that entertained half of Napier before the residence complained and they were shut down.

They are all there, along with the twenty years of pigeon poo. I had to do it justice, it might not be here for much longer and it had a lot of history that needed to be remembered. (Brian Culy 2026)

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Please note that some of the framed images online are mockups only and serve only as a representation of the actual framed artwork.

Other print sizes are available please get in touch for details