Hand-picked New Zealand Shells

My shell practice explores curiosity, resourcefulness, and the hidden beauty of the natural world through wall-hung sculptures composed of hand-picked New Zealand shells. Gathered from coastlines where they are often overlooked, weathered, or crushed beneath the feet of beachgoers, these natural artefacts are carefully selected, cleaned, filtered, and arranged into intricate geometric compositions. Through both their natural colours and hand-painted surfaces, the shells are reincarnated into new forms that celebrate the quiet richness of the everyday. The process is one of custodianship rather than extraction, revealing value in what has been forgotten and inviting a renewed appreciation for the overlooked treasures embedded within our landscapes. By amalgamating individual fragments into harmonious arrays, each work seeks to cultivate wonder, encouraging viewers to rediscover the beauty, complexity, and resilience of nature.