Touch

WomanMade Chicago — 2020

In Zealandia (At Home) a primal abstract figure nests in a rainforest in Aotearoa NZ. This surreal eco-system encapsulates the fragile beauty of the 8th Continent Zealandia, the whenua (land/country) treasured by Māori and colonised by British who also developed a classical icon named 'Zealandia', the daughter of 'Britannia' – a symbol of colonial power and trope of female stereotypes. Cloaked in ancient stone from the mountains of Te Waipounamu, the new Zealandia rises up into the mist, a mythical figure with open arms and grounded feet. The X-figure generates new ratios – re-writing the ‘perfect proportions’ of Da Vinci’s Renaissance Man, creating a new model, a chromosome: X, the genetic blueprint unique to each individual yet universal to all.