Provenance: Private Collection, Auckland since 1985 Purchased from Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch

Exhibited: Paper Chase, Robert McDougall Art Gallery, Christchurch, 1984 Written in artist's hand verso

Brooke Gifford Gallery, Christchurch, 1984 bears original gallery label verso

Ralph Hotere produced Polaris in 1984, the same year that New Zealand banned nuclear armed and powered vessels from entering its ports. He used corrugated iron and stainless steel in the works of this period created in wooden frames that resembled sculptural forms of traditional maori carving. The works come with a strong anti-nuclear message with references to the Polaris missile, a submarine-launched, nuclear-tipped ballistic missile built during the Cold War by the United States Navy. It was designed to be used as part of the US Navy's contribution to the United States nuclear deterent.