Alan Pearson travelled to the Buller region of the West Coast of the South Island in the winter of 1993. At 12 Mile, north of Greymouth, the surf landlocked the artist between the waves and the forest and he focused on the tidal energy, that pounding West Coast surf which is a relentless force of creation. This work also makes use of highly abstracted landforms with the roughly-sketched triangles representing the distinctive rock formations of the 12 Mile coastline, and the ubiquitous horizon line forming the suggestion of a seascape in the top right corner of the work. In the centre of the piece Pearson uses the repetitive wave motion like a musical bar structure which is placed vertically and then animated to create a pantheistic chorus line. As with all of Pearson's works, 'West Coast Waifs' is an illustration of the human condition, a wistful yearning, a whispered hope for the survival in the midst of this relentless force, and a symphonic depiction of energy.