Reretahi (Harmony)

There was always something quietly profound about this piece. Painted during the season of Matariki, Reretahi emerged slowly, with deep reflection and a sense of presence that felt beyond my own.

The Moreton Bay Fig featured here stands in one of Aotearoa’s most striking locations — Kororāreka, beside the Duke of Marlborough. Its vast, contorted branches hold stories of this place: of growth and resilience, of the past woven into the present. Every curve tells of time and tension, beauty and burden. Even the scars — the parts that were cut back — deserved to be painted. Because life, like this tree, holds compromises. Nature makes room for us, if we take time to notice.

I chose the colours of dusk, a quiet nod to gratitude — that we have lived another day.

In Reretahi, the tree is the central figure. It stands alongside the Duke, both shaped by time, both enduring. The tree carries the languages of this land. It has witnessed history that predates us all — some of it spoken, some of it still felt in the earth.

It does not resist its surroundings. It simply continues to grow — with grace, patience, and truth. This tree lives in harmony, and through this work, I honour it. It is a taonga.