24 October – 18 November 2024

Sing Me Sou'West

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Inspired by the beauty of the South Island’s West Coast ‘Sing Me Sou’West’ is a new collection of paintings by Clare Reilly that explore the coastal diversity and landforms of this extraordinary area, from rainforests to salt marshes, and the varied bird life that thrives there.

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"This part of our land sings with visual richness, the thrum of the ocean, overlayed by songs of birds from forest to estuary. Due to the remoteness and robust climate of the area, much of the wilderness character has been retained and, fortunately, protected.

Travelling along the coast road between Hokitika to Jackson’s Bay is like a journey through time, an experience that brought forth awe-inspiring emotional responses within me. The magnificence of towering rimu and kahikatea forests, backdropped by snow-covered mountain peaks and reflective lakes, swift running rivers and a coastline pounded by heavy seas, the immersive memory of this experience has profoundly informed this year’s work." – Clare Reilly


Sing Me Sou’West
Sing me Sou’west, to journey over high mountain passes,
with snow-capped ridge-lines that are reflected in mirror lakes.
Take me down into the dense rainforests of rimu, matai and
tall kahikatea trees, underpinned with lacy tree ferns.

Sing me to where coastal wetlands, reed beds and rushes,
become a fertile breeding ground for microcosms of diversity,
within the salt marshes, lakes and lagoons.
Where sandflies cloud thick and dark,
and soft mists rise into the hills.

Where trees grow with wet feet,
covered in mosses and lichens, and the rain falls
in rhythmic patters, steady and strong.
Where the moans of the offshore winds,
echo through rimu forests that fall into the sea.

Where swift running rivers bring down brightly
coloured mountain rocks that are piled up on the shore,
to hear the clatter of waves that smooth and
polish them, in amongst the ocean roar.

Let me hear the songs of the Tui,
the call of penguins and cormorants,
the boom of the shy bittern,
and the quiet flight of Kotuku wings.
Of spoonbills wading in moonlight on
estuarine channels and the sharp chatter
of Kakariki in bush.
Tiny riroriro is singing plaintively in the rain.

These are songs that lift my heart,
engage my spirit, and
inspire my imagination.


- Clare Reilly 2024