Since 2010, I have drawn specific sites on Waiheke Island exploring native forest remnants, or ‘bush’, where some ancient patches of indigenous vegetation are preserved. . The act of drawing involves an assumption of separateness between drawer and environment. My interest is in nature’s independence from human agency.

Given our C21st ecological crisis, these stands of bush have acquired new symbolic value, because we now understand they play a vital role in absorbing our carbon dioxide emissions and cleaning our drinking water. In this way, our relationship to these isolated clusters of bush embodies the symbiotic nature of the drawing process. My works articulate both the separateness and connectedness of drawer and subject.