I am a NZ artist … primarily I paint, working with acrylics on canvas. Photography and mixed media also interest me.

From Whanganui, NZ, I am of Māori, English and Scottish descent (Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Maru Taranaki, Clan Ross). These cultures all inform my work.

My work has centered mainly around issues of land and identity, with particular reference to assimilation and the reality of standing between two cultures. I also focus on issues surrounding the destruction of environment via colonization processes, and all of the above with respect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi). In 2002 I enrolled in the BMVA program at Toioho ki Āpiti, Palmerston North, where the Treaty is the primary focus. For those who are not local, the Treaty, signed in 1840, promised equal partnership between Māori & Pakeha.

The destruction of environment has increased with corporate practices which see maximising profit as their bottom line, particularly since the creation of the Agenda 21 document in the early '90s. Corporations are not required to consider environments or people. In spite of professions or lipservice of sustainable practices, this UN agenda (now Agenda 2030) is affecting our native wildlife and driving many species to the brink of extinction. One of the tools of destruction employed by the authorities is poison, another is loss of habitat. These issues all feature in my blog posts. They are issues I have addressed since 2014 at my site titled envirowatchnz.com (formerly envirowatchrangitikei, now on hold).

Of note, during my Social Policy studies in the '80s I clearly recall one piece of info in particular, that in the future, corporations would control governments. Interesting that.

I graduated from the BMVA program in 2018 (Hons) and the Post Graduate Diploma of MVA in 2020. In 1993 I received a Bachelor of Social Work and Social Policy at the same University.