Rutu draws its inspiration from Rita Angus’s painting of the same name. The text is primarily sourced from school children’s responses to the painting when it was exhibited in Rita Angus: Life & Vision, at Te Papa. Interspersed with the children’s comments are Angus’s own words, and quotes from various sources. These quotes are intermingled in an attempt to question Rita Angus’s idealised notion of a polynesian/pakeha identity and to engage with the painting’s pacifist theme.