Sam Mahon

Sam Mahon is an artist and author living in Waikari in north Canterbury in the South Island of New Zealand. He is the son of Peter Mahon, a lawyer notable for the Mt Erebus disaster inquiry.

He has become involved with preventing water pollution in the Canterbury Region and is using art to highlight the issue. For example, in late October 2009, Sam Mahon made a bust of Environment Minister Nick Smith out of dairy-cow dung in order to publicise the campaign to stop the Hurunui River from being dammed for irrigation.^[1] In the lead up to the 2011 election he created a painting of prime minister John Key dead in an alley. The image was made into a game on his website where visitors could guess who killed the PM by watching video clips embedded on the page. Those who guess correctly will be announced on election day (November 26) and be eligible to win prizes, including a cast bronze of a dying dove, another work by Mahon which he describes as "a metaphor for dying hopes".^[2]

Bibliography

• The Year of the Horse (2002) ISBN 978-1-877135-73-6
• The Water Thieves (2006) ISBN 978-1-877361-51-7
• My Father's Shadow (2008) ISBN 978-1-877460-17-3
• Franzi and the great terrain robbery (2011) ISBN 978-0-473-19882-4

See also

• Art of New Zealand

References

1. Jeff Hampton (29 October 2009). "Artist protests damage to environment with Nick Smith dung sculpture". TV3 News//www.iterasi.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2009.
2. "Art shock 'kills' PM in alley". Sunday Star Times. 2011-11-13.

External links

• sammahon.com
• Biography at Longacre Press
• Profile at the Centre of Contemporary Art (COCA)