Painter Peter McIntyre is best remembered for his work as New Zealand's official war artist during the Second World War, but a new exhibition takes us into the heart of the Central North Island rural community he loved. Kakahi lies 10 kilometres up the Whanganui River from Taumarunui and has changed little since Peter and his family first stayed there back in the 1960s. Peter painted many images of the village's people, marae and landscapes over decades until his death in 1995. Now the New Zealand Portrait Gallery is bringing together 21 of Peter's paintings and 22 photographs taken in Kakahi by his daughter Sara who moved there permanently in 2010. Sara tells Lynn Freeman why Peter felt deeply content at Kakahi. The exhibition Kakahi: Peter and Sara McIntyre opens on the 25th of February at the New Zealand Portrait Gallery in Wellington.