The artwork, titled ‘The Political Cycle’ was for sale on auction website Trade Me. The piece sold for $18,050 when the auction closed on Sunday.
The one-off signed sketch, which resembles a tornado, attracted more than 200 bids and was viewed more than 33,000 times.
https://www.facebook.com/TradeMe/photos/a.457157850794/10158403217390795/?type=3&theater
Proceeds from the sale will go to Koru Care, a charity that supports New Zealand children who face life-threatening illnesses or disabilities.
Koru Care spokesperson Tracey Curran said the charity had to cancel its major annual fundraiser due to COVID-19.
“The fundraising dollar is getting harder to come by so any [financial] injection like this is wonderful. We never dreamed that it would reach what it has.”
Normally the charity would have used the funds to take children to California.
“But since overseas travel is not an option at the moment, we will be using it to make some special memories for these children for travel within New Zealand. We still wish to make dreams come true and help them create lifelong memories,” Curran said.
It is not the first time Ardern’s artwork has been auctioned off on the website, with a piece called ‘To Do List’ raising 2,500 New Zealand dollars for the charity Parent to Parent in 2018.
Reuters
