For Christchurch sculptor Bing Dawe, art is a vehicle for communicating his wider concerns about political, cultural and environmental issues.

Since the 1970s Dawe's sculpture has addressed issues such as the proliferation of nuclear technology, the politics of energy resources, factory farming, and environmental degradations.

In his hands these works go beyond the protest to the heart of the human condition.

His latest collection of work - "Downstream Under" - continues this ongoing theme by examining Canterbury's rivers and waterways and the fauna that inhabit these areas.