Aroha Gossage’s paintings seek to connect with tupuna and the past. Her landscapes are located in Pakiri and Hauturu (Little Barrier), physically, spiritually and conceptually.

Much of the conceptual foundation of her art Gossage attributes to her mother, and to a childhood spent learning how to live with and from the land – collecting and propagating native seeds, diving for kina and paua, fishing in the river. ‘She gifted me with a childhood living closely connected to our environment in Pakiri,’ Gossage says.

Gossage incorporates kokowai (earth) into several of the works in this exhibition. She seeks kokowai out because of its ‘gentle purity’ in handling as well as its ‘unspoken power’ visually. ‘These rich earth colours you can’t buy in a tube‘. Gossage collects the medium herself, allowing her time on the land, thinking and exploring.