Artist Lonnie Hutchinson has transformed a central Christchurch landscape with a 50-metre-long eel trap, or hinaki.

The structure, entitled I Like Your Form is suspended between ten six-metre-high wooden arcades which make up The Arcade Project in Christchurch CBD.

The giant hinaki is a reminder of traditions that might not be immediately apparent in the midst of Christchurch’s hectic rebuild. Hutchinson says the Avon River plays a unique role in the traditional economy and culture of local Māori.

“The intervention of the kupenga (net) tensioned between the two sets of arcades is a reclaiming of ‘site’ that is of significance to Ngāi Tahu.”

The artwork is Hutchinson’s response to an invitation from Festival of Transitional Architecture (FESTA) to intervene in the arcades. 

The artist and a team of volunteers and sponsoring construction partners installed I Like Your Form on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 July 2014. The work is supported by Christchurch City Council’s Transitional City Projects Fund, Creative New Zealand, Cymon Allfrey Architects, Lewis Bradford engineers and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu.

It will be on display until September 14.