Words by Ginney Deavoll
Each year I choose a charity whose work I believe is interesting, important and effective. I team up with them to help tell their story and raise funds for their cause. I love that my work can benefit the places, flora and fauna that inspire its creation.
Over the past four months I collaborated with Pest Free Token on a special series of paintings celebrating New Zealand’s native ecosystems and the incredible work being done to restore them. What drew me to Pest Free Token was their willingness to tackle an old and seemingly impossible problem with ingenuity, optimism and a fresh way of thinking. Their work is helping communities around New Zealand play a meaningful role in protecting and restoring native species in our backyards.
Through this project I wanted to celebrate the beauty, wonder and resilience of New Zealand’s native ecosystems, while sharing a hopeful vision of what is possible when communities come together to care for the places they love. These paintings are inspired by the world we’re protecting and the future we’re helping to create, one small step at a time.
I began by asking questions. Over the first week, I invited people to share the experiences that have shaped their connection to our natural world. I wanted to learn from the people who spend time observing, restoring and simply enjoying our alpine, bush and coastal ecosystems. The response was extraordinary and overwhelming. Stories arrived from every corner of New Zealand. People wrote about hearing kiwi call through the night, robins following trampers through the bush, glowworms lighting forest tracks, cheeky kea, whio raising their young, stingrays gliding beneath them, rare alpine plants, tiny insects, overlooked fungi, returning kākā and countless moments that reminded them why these places matter.
As the stories accumulated, patterns began to emerge. They were about discovery, connection, hope, recovery and special moments that stay with us for years. The stories were the foundations of the paintings. I quickly realised I’d be creating an ecology poster if I included every species so I had to develop a visual language to represent the main themes and carefully choose which species were included based on their popularity and the story they told about the ecosystem.
In the shadows of each of the paintings is the ‘flower of life’ pattern. It is a very old pattern constructed with interlocking circles. Circles felt like a natural choice as I had already decided the paintings should be round. The circle speaks of life cycles, regeneration and the interconnectedness of the pattern highlights the importance of all the parts to create the whole just as it is in a healthy ecosystem. Hidden within each painting is a huge selection of native plants and hidden animals. In each painting one animal is looking out at the viewer creating that moment of connection.
The originals and prints become available on 27 October. The window to purchase prints closes on 11 October and they will be removed from my website forever. The number sold will set the edition.
