Let me take you on a visual exploration of Puanga, through my soul’s eyes.

An abstraction of thoughts and feelings – a layering of genetic memory, fractured light, of soul in flight.

Binding earth and sky, night and day, above and below, past and present, I layer them to create the illusion of 3-dimensional space as a unified, interconnected whole.

Represented here are the waka navigations of voyaging tupuna, pushing outward across Moana nui a Kiwa, the Pacific Ocean – like the tide, returning on waves of human experience. This was my experience on a recent visit to Rarotonga in 2024, and the connections made all around me. Tivaevae and Pare’u adorn the people and places with patterns, colour and texture, all inspiration for this body of painting.

Atua are reflected in ancient geometry using repetition and symmetry for balance. Patterns laid out like a map, on an ocean of positive (tapu) and negative (noa) space. Patterns that expand and contract, creating a sense of movement and direction across the vast ocean with the promise of the known and the unknown.

E kore au e ngaro, he kākano i ruia mai i Rangiatea