Much of the work that comprises Ralph Hotere's extensive and illustrious oeuvre has been conceived and executed in response to social, environmental and political issues on a domestic and international scale. Painted in 1989, Polaris is one of a group of works belonging to a series by the same name that Hotere completed in relation to the destructive danger of the nuclear warheads of the Polaris missile. First built and launched in 1960 during the Cold War, Polaris missiles continued to be carried as part of the nuclear armament of both the United States Navy and the British Royal Navy up until the mid-1990s.In the creation of Polaris, Hotere has employed a number of different materials, including iron, wood and paint, which are harmoniously melded together to realise an impressively powerful work. A rectangular section of corrugated iron is burnished with a blowtorch to spell out the title of the work, while also serving to create a linear pattern of marks that are evocative of the distinct mushroom-cloud shape of a detonated nuclear bomb. Adding to the visual effect of the painted explosion are the rough, trawled areas of violet-pink paint that spray out from either side of the corrugated panel just below the lettering. As well as serving a pictorial function, the areas of burnt iron are simultaneously aesthetic with a lustrous, iridescent finish. Catching and refracting the light outside of the panel, these passages establish a visual communication with the outside world that complements the political content of the work. The painted backdrop of Polaris is realised in vibrant red and raven black and is richly textured, bathing the central panel of corrugated iron in a whirl of brushstrokes. Against this hive of painterly activity, Hotere encloses the work in solid kauri, appropriating a demolition sash window frame to act as a framing devise for the painting. Having become something of a Hotere signature over the years, the use of the sash adds an element of the New Zealand vernacular to a work that is, for the most part, global in outlook. In doing so, Hotere succinctly connects the global to the local, bringing international issues into the New Zealand consciousness.