Perhaps this is Margaret

She does look remarkably like the woman known only as "Margaret of Karangahape Road". Intensely private for a woman who lived her life in public; sitting on benches in central Auckland's K Road. Dunning passers by for cigarettes, and sometimes also for a bit of cash. One of those who knew her better than most, stated after her death almost six years ago, that she was not homeless, that she had a flat in Parnell. What was undoubted was that she would not infrequently be intoxicated, and at such times she would vary from being jovial to being very abusive. Liked by some tolerated by most and detested by a few. 

I first saw her on the street in the late 1980s or early 90s. She would intermittently look close to death, and have a time away from her place on the bench. Every time she bounced back, until the last year or two when I saw her less often, and when I did she looked increasingly frail. 

Immediately after she died (at Easter 2011), there were calls for a statue and other ways to commemorate her. Nothing came of these calls, and they quickly faded away. It was as if she had never been there. Late last year I first saw this portrait of a woman of indeterminate age (as was Margaret). I was passing by on my bike, and gave it not a second glance, merely regretting the painting over of a previous mural (which I did blip). In Hereford Street, less than 50m from K Road.

This evening, after six solid hours of reading the agenda papers for Tuesday, I went out for a walk with my camera, and took a closer look. I could find nothing later this evening when I tried to find something about this painting. To me, this looks like an artist's rendition of a woman who was known (without anyone ever truly knowing her) for over 20 years, and forgotten again within five. 

Such is likely the fate of most of us, except for family. (No one knew anything about her family and the Church took responsibility for her funeral.)