Aroha Gossage graduated with a Masters of Art & Design (Honours) in 2015, Auckland University of Technology. Iwi (tribe) of Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Ati Awa and the hapū (sub-tribe) Ngāti Ruahine/Ruanui, Ngāti Manuhiri.
Gossage’s paintings relate to concepts of tangata whenua (people of the land), whakapapa (genealogy) and turangawaewae (a place to stand) and are informed by cultural, historical and spiritual connections to whenua (land).
Her work focuses on articulating a desire to imbue the work with a sense of wairua (spiritual essence) and mauri (living life principle). Gossage’s paintings explore the potential possibility for the viewer to experience the sensibilities of the specific place she is depicting. They convey a sense or feeling of the subtleties of Māori history and ancestry, an awareness of an environment that is in continuous change and empathy for an indigenous emotional and spiritual connection to landscape.
“My paintings are of specific places on Hauturu – Little Barrier Island, which is the ancestral home of our tupuna of our hapū – Ngāti Manuhiri. The paintings draw upon my spiritual connection and historical reconnection. They were created after a ten day stay and study on Little Barrier this year”.
Aroha Gossage 2016
(Ngāti Manuhiri)
