Curiosity sparks creativity

Sharu Delilkan | 10th December 2009

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Treena Armstrong with her exhibition piece. CHRIS SKELTON

Henrietta Swan is the alter ego Treena Armstrong coined for herself after she saw a photo her fellow Spark Studio student Adam Fanning had taken. The 37-year-old Art of Theatre student is one of 10 artists with disabilities who are collaborating on the Can This Really Happen? exhibition.

Her piece, The Arch, is inspired by the curious tale of Henry Swan, an Auckland lawyer who set off to circumnavigate the world in his yacht, the Awatea, in 1901, only to slip unseen into Henderson Creek where he "went bush'' for 30 years. Armstrong has based aspects of her creation on Swan's Arch in Henderson, the last of the remnants of Henry's hiding place and refuge.

It appealed to her sense of quirkiness that Vickers Armstrong, the person who built the
second Awatea, shared her surname. Armstrong and her fellow students have built a large cardboard arch measuring 2.4mx2.4mx1m, plus a chicken wire and papier mache Awatea 3, with a flax sail and nikau palm figurehead.

Despite the gravity of the subject matter, Armstrong's sense of humour always prevails, and her ability to put a spin on the conventional understanding of disability is what sets her apart.

"One day I was sitting at Spark and everybody was talking about disability,'' recalls the
Henderson resident.

"Everybody was saying they had disabilities, like cerebral palsy, but I yelled out, 'My disability is that I'm an artist!'.''