Ko Ingarangi and ko kōtirana te whakapaparanga mai | Engari, Ko Taranaki te whenua tupu | No Whāingaroa ahau Ko Amanda toku ingoa |Tēnā tatou katoa

It was with a sense of significance that I returned to the Taranaki area in 2022 & 2023, the place where I grew up, to spend time painting in uncultivated areas of the Pukekura garden [New Zealand], And now, in 2024 I will be [re]-turning to the land of my ancestors - travelling overseas to a village named Edgefield in Norfolk [England] - to paint in/with St Peter’s & St Paul’s Edgefield site for a month. The place that generations of my people have called home.

Last year was the first time I had encountered Edgefield. For a week I began to make some paintings there both inside and outside the church building, and was warmly welcomed by Richard and the dedicated people who look after the community, and I felt so grateful to be there. It was the home of my great-great-grandparents, and also my great-great-great-grandparents and a whole lot of extended family before and either side of them.

One of the reasons I was drawn to painting here was that my great-great-grandfather, Walter Hubert Marcon, was the Rector here from 1875 onwards, and he had a hand in relocating the building, literally stone by stone, a few hundred meters down the road to its present position. So he, and all the people who were involved, were so physically connected to the place as well as quite probably spiritually and emotionally as well. I’m not sure why that matters, but there is a sense that the physicality of the place was well-known by my people, and I want to connect with the place by painting there.

This year, for the month of September, I will be returning again to make a new body of work on-site. making several more substantial paintings in collaboration with the place. The work will be installed in-situ at the end of this time for public viewing, and on my return to Aotearoa I will continue to develop the work and share it through exhibition, talks and publications.

Opening Blessing | 5th September 2024; Painting in Edgefield [St Peter’s & St Paul’s, Sweetbriar Ln, Melton Constable NR24 2AF] | September 2024; Artist Talk & Drawing workshop | September 2024; Closing blessing | 28th September 2024; Exhibition of work | St Peter’s & St Paul’s Edgefield, 28th October 2024; Guest Speaker, ITIA, St Andrews University, Scotland | 4th October 2024; Guest Artist speaker and studio visits, DJCAD, University of Dundee, Scotland | 8th October 2024; WINTEC Research Archive | 1st November 2024; Artist Publication Book Launch | 2025, Ramp Gallery; Exhibition, Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts Gallery, University of Waikato | 4th November 2025 – 21st February 2026; Artist Talks, Whaingaroa studio | 25th March 2025, 26th March 2025; Illustrated lecture, University of Otago | 21st July 2025; Published paper, Journal of Visual Art Practice | March 2025

Warm thanks for the support of Reverend David Longe, Richard Peaver and the St Peter’s & St Paul’s Church Parish Committee and community on my journey of painting in Edgefield during 2023 and I’m looking forward to being there again soon. Thanks also to friends and family and for the support of the Waikato Institute of Technology; St Andrews University; the Univerisity of Dundee; Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts Gallery, Murray Rae at the University of Otago, and the Journal of Visual Arts Practice, for this mahi.