Knowing hands, yesterday and tomorrow (mother and child)

Knowing hands, yesterday and tomorrow (mother and child) 2023 Cast bronze and stainless steel 2020 mm x 1330 mm x 695 mm This work is formed from impressions of the artist’s hands, reflecting on how we come to understand the world physically — through touch, movement and the body. Made while hapū with her second child, it considers the relationship between mother and child, and the ways knowledge is shaped and passed on across generations. Its open, rising form suggests both the body and natural growth, allowing it to shift between figurative and more abstract readings. Beginning in clay and transformed into bronze, the work retainsthe trace of touch — gestures and impressions held in a permanent form. Set within a subtle clearing, the work is encountered in passing, with morning light drawing out its shifting forms. The artist notes “I’m interested in the way we understand the world around us physically, and how that might be changing, with our hands being a fundamental source of knowledge.”