Douglas Stichbury was born in Palmerston North in 1987. He is based in Wellington and graduated from Massey’s School of Fine Art in 2007 with a Masters of Fine Arts with Distinction.

This work is part of a series based on Douglas’s research into the use of tragic historical narratives and the subsequent recycling of these stories through public relations – especially through the medium of advertising and branding. The tale of Moby Dick being used as a brand name for a hotel is an example of this use of a familiar story as a marketing tool.

The hotel itself is an example of late modernist architectural design and through this, as well as Douglas’s modernist style of paint application, a tension is created between the ideals of the modernist era and the post-modernist methods of public relations.