Kiwi-born artist Horatio T. Birdbath’s final wish to bring his art home
A New Zealand-born Perth artist’s legacy could soon come full circle, with friends hoping to return part of his life’s work to Wellington in line with one of his final wishes.
Horatio T. Birdbath died on June 13 aged 73, inspiring an outpouring of tributes from the Fremantle community as they mourned the much-loved local icon.
Born Ian Ayson in New Zealand, Birdbath moved to Australia in the 1980s, where he became a fixture of Fremantle’s art scene under his new name.
Diane Hunter, a local artist and close friend of the bohemian eccentric, told the Herald one of his dying wishes was for part of his art collection to be returned to Wellington.
While much of Birdbath’s collection has deteriorated, a group of his friends have engaged an art restorer to see what can be done to preserve it.
“The main bodies of his work that are really obviously something that the museum would be interested in, you know. We have that stored under lock and key.”
Hunter said the group hoped to donate part of the restored collection to Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, fulfilling Birdbath’s wish for his work to return to his birthplace.
“I think people from Wellington would really dig Fremantle because they’re very, very similar cities in that love of culture and street art,” she said.
As friends work to preserve his artistic legacy, they are also preparing to celebrate the man behind it.
Hunter said she had been overwhelmed by the response following his death, with a Facebook group created to memorialise Birdbath already amassing more than 1500 members.
His memorial this weekend is expected to attract more than 1000 of his friends and admirers, with the City of Fremantle making the Town Hall available for the “Festival of Horatio”.
The July 12 celebration will begin at one of Birdbath’s best-known public artworks before a procession, led by local marching band Junkadelic, makes its way to the Town Hall.
“There’ll be performers, like people with hula hoops. There’s, you know, people singing, that sort of thing will be happening for the three hours or so at the Town Hall.”
Attendees are invited to give three-minute eulogies and browse clothing and other personal items from Birdbath’s wardrobe to wear in his honour.
“They are going to be offered up in like an op shop style for people to wear on the day, and all the proceeds from that go towards helping his next of kin.”
Hunter said Birdbath was “interwoven into the fabric” of the city, his colourful wardrobe, public artworks and quiet generosity making him a familiar face around Fremantle.
“There were a lot of people who really loved that guy”, she said. “He was like very, very introverted and very private, with this eccentric kind of side to him in how he dressed and things like that.”
He once told Hunter to always “give way to butterflies”, a phrase she said reflected his ability to see the world in a way that was “beautiful and simple and profound”.
“It’s just so him”, she said, “I don’t know, observing, seeing the beautiful things that other people don’t see or maybe don’t respect.”
The quirky life philosophy is one of the many things friends say they’ll carry with them, alongside memories of a man who made Fremantle a little more colourful.