Taking over 400 square metres in the heart of Kirikiriroa, Golden Dawn is a bold collision of styles by artists FLOX and SWEATS.
The artwork brings together SWEATS’ gritty roller work and signature drips with FLOX’s clean, crisp stencil lines. At the centre is an abstract face, layered with glitchy line work, floating teeth and a wrapping tongue element — all surrounded by Tūī in flight, wings spread wide.
The piece draws inspiration from the chaos and beauty of the dawn chorus — that moment when the world stirs, birds fill the air with sound, and people slowly open their eyes to a new day. A rich, golden yellow runs throughout the piece, from the bird's wings to the moon cycle that anchors the composition. A full moon, cleverly doubling as the face’s left eye, sits alongside a crescent and half moon, tying the work back to time and nature.
Golden Dawn is both balanced and chaotic — a meeting point between darkness and light, sound and silence, movement and stillness.