Privy to Beauty

The Northland town of Kawakawa is home to the remarkable public toilet created by Viennese-born artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, who is profiled in the Jakarta Globe. The work is a gift from Hundertwasser, who was an architect as well as a painter, to his adopted home. He bought a farm in nearby Kaurinui in 1974 and it is where he felt at home. He was buried there in 2000 in a grave under a tulip tree that is inaccessible to visitors. He didn’t discard his aversion to the limelight in Kawakawa, which he called “the end of the world.” When his toilet was dedicated on December 10, 1999, he slipped into town incognito. And he left it to his neighbour Noma Shephard to spread his message: “It is only a toilet but it should show that even small things can bring beauty into our lives.”