Before focusing on their respective studio practices, Kirsty and Fiona followed strikingly similar creative paths. Kirsty worked as an art director in advertising, while Fiona spent many years in documentary film as a director and producer. Each later shifted toward art full-time, bringing with them strong visual storytelling instincts and a thoughtful engagement with narrative, observation, and place. In this sense, the exhibition title also reflects a shared trajectory within their creative lives.
Kirsty’s luminous paintings are instantly recognisable for their verdant colour, crisp native flora, and watchful birdlife. Her manu emerge from dense foliage and coastal landscapes with a striking emotional presence, capturing moments that feel both intimate and distinctly Aotearoa. Drawing on years spent painting the New Zealand landscape, her works invite us to pause and notice the fleeting beauty that exists just beyond the noise of daily life.
Working predominantly in bronze, Fiona's sculptural practice explores the tension between native and introduced species, colonial history and the layered relationship between humans and the environment. Her captivating works balance humour with poignancy, using allegory to explore migration, adaptation, fragility and coexistence. Birds perch on oversized acorns and pinecones, feathers become relics, and familiar forms take on the weight of story and symbolism.
While differing in medium and mood, both artists share an attentiveness to the living world, and the resonance birds hold within our collective imagination. In Aotearoa, birds are never merely decorative; they are messengers, guardians, markers of home, and reminders of what is precious and fragile.