NZ Visual Diary - entry 203

a slice of Queen Street

By one standard, there is a portion of Queen Street that is truly elegant: its northern-most end, the roadway closest to the harbour. Shops with familiar names of haute couture and and other families of studied fashion - Dior, Chanel, Prada, Coach, Bvlgari and Rolex, among others - vie for attention, their display windows festooned with rarified colour and texture.

I often prefer the down and out, so I am attracted to the relations not talked about, on this occasion the south end of Queen as one moves closer to its intersection with K Road. There amongst a monumental elegance to which I can connect - the Civic and Town Hall come to mind - sits a patchwork of humble neglect, buildings that beg to express an erstwhile panache.

Give them your time, the attention to see what is vibrant, playful and worthy of remark, of imperfect but suggestive surprise.