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Finalist in the 2024 The Upstairs Gallery Emerging Artist Awards
Theme: “Community is… What we create together”
Piece: Unity in Bloom
Artist Statement: "Unity in Bloom" aims to capture the beauty of diversity and unity within our communities. Each flower in the work, each different in their own way, symbolizes the unique individuals that come together within a neighbourhood to form a vibrant whole. The raised garden, partially enclosing the flowers, serves as a tribute to the community gardens that flourished in Christchurch after the 2011 earthquakes, filling the empty spaces left behind. The garden is intentionally left partially complete, representing the ever-evolving nature of communities as they grow. These gardens are a testament to resilience, creativity, and the collective effort of communities to rebuild during hard times, offering a space to come together to grieve and process the events they all experienced. This piece celebrates how, despite our differences, we can all contribute to something beautiful when we all come together.
Finalist in the 2025 The Upstairs Gallery Emerging Artist Awards
Finalist in the 2025 The Upstairs Gallery Emerging Artist Awards
Theme: Life out loud
Piece: What Lives Inside
Artist Statement: What Lives Inside begins with a shell; clear, textured, and tightly formed. It represents the mould we often find ourselves in. The expectations, limitations, and roles we quietly accept to fit in. Beautiful in its own way, but confined. From the broken shell bursts colour. Bold and alive. Each shape radiating outward is a moment of release, of speaking our truth, and the joy of self expression. The shift from structure to movement, from monochrome to vibrancy, captures the moment of breaking free. Of choosing to live out loud. The colourful forms represent different parts of ourselves—our dreams, identities, and passions, each unique, imperfect, and essential. They are mounted on swaying stems to symbolise the living, breathing nature of being bold. Not rigid or loud, but fluid, responsive, and real. What Lives Inside is a celebration of those moments when we step beyond what holds and controls us and embrace what lights us up. When we are fully seen through our passions, our creativity, and the vibrant expression of our whole selves.
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