The decision by Wellington artist Liam Gerrard to paint a portrait of convicted killer Clayton Weatherston was wrong.

I agree with the father of Weatherston's victim, Gil Elliot who has labelled Gerrard's portrait to be the "epitome of evil." The way in which Weatherston viciously attacked and murdered his former girlfriend at her family home in January 2008 shocked many Dunedinites (such as myself) and eventually the whole of New Zealand.

In supporting Sophie's father, I have to say that I am in favour of artistic and cultural freedom. However, Gerrard should have thought about his decision to portray Weatherston in order to obtain entry to the Adam Portraiture Award. This award is conferred by the Wellington-based National Portrait Gallery. Therefore, while I recognise that art should at times push the boundaries and thereby generate societal debate on important political and social issues (as the Mary and Joseph billboard did in Auckland last Christmas), I feel that the Weatherston portrait doesn't meet this criterion. While some argue that it may reignite the centuries old debate on what is evil, painting a portrait of a callous murderer, like Weatherston, while his victim's family, friends and community are still grieving is way too much.

I do admit that Gerrard has apologised for the inappropriate nature of his portrait. Besides he did break the contest rules in not asking Weatherston as to whether he consented to being portrayed. That in itself is a small point as we already have plenty of media generated pictures to remind us of what Weatherston looks like. Furthermore, deciding to put Weatherston's face onto canvass might convey the perception that it is okay to glorify cold blooded killers. After all, no modern portrait artist would dare to render a portrait of Adolf Hitler and to the best of my recollection no one has. So why (even inadvertently) seek to glorify such a killer like Weatherston?

It is my hope now that Gerrard will destroy the portrait before he gets tempted to offer it up on Trade Me. I do hope that someone (if not Gerrard himself) will now take up the idea of Sophie Elliott's father and paint a nice portrait of her in all her youth and beauty. That would be the best tribute to a person who did have a most intelligent and beautiful mind.