Boulder Bay is a real place, around the rugged volcanic headland from the famous surf beach Taylor’s Mistake (Te Onepoto). Exposed to the tearing easterlies that make sea swimming an exercise in survival, it is a place for walking and exploring rock pools. The area has also been a proposed site for the conservation of the endangered white-flippered penguin. Holiday homes built here in the 1880s stand in the way of the proposed tourism and conservation venture, which would enable tourists to view the penguin’s night-time wanderings. How would they feel if they were confronted instead by the oft-described ‘humaniforms’ variously loitering around the bay? The strangely elegant and vaguely disturbing winged and beaked creatures carry their shadows balanced precariously on their heads like daemons. Spectators of the odd dance above them, primitive creatures writhe in the sky. They are prehistoric beings in various stages of development: the pterodactyl, the liver fluke and the sea monkey. The largest three figures are softly clothed in summer drapery, pastel-toned frocks falling decorously to the knee: these three seemingly more sophisticated than the ravening hordes below and the drifting pack above. The dominant figure holds a ball, evoking summer games and frivolity; the figure to the right spreads her arms, such as a child might, suggesting flight. Hammond has restrained the palette and allowed the painting’s individualised greeny-blue washes to activate the otherwise raw section of the canvas. Unlike Hammond’s ‘dark’ paintings, the tonal shift to softer hues evokes a gentler atmosphere, less threatening and more serene. Whilst the imagery still disturbs with its very strangeness, it is easier to warm to these more gentle depictions. Also, the sea at Boulder Bay is often this same teal green. Its salty depths are jewel bright and on a good day the clear high sky evokes the chill of the air, which is never far away once you are out of the sun. Like the climate, Hammond’s landscape is a study in extremes, both beautiful and terrible. Emma Fox