A Growing Archive
A Growing Archive
Embedded Files
Every mission starts with a few foundational moments: the things, the places, or the people that change how you see the world. For me, the Toxic Tide project isn't just about the art; it's about connecting the history, the environment, and the people to the pollution and impacts we are creating today. This Archive is where I keep research, maps, and personal moment that laid the groundwork for my conservation efforts. It’s the behind-the-scenes look at the data inspired my art. I'm starting with a couple of sections here
Collective Sparkle: A sustainability day through work, learning about tourism positive actions, and collective responsibility.
Bridge to Art: An assignment that showed me visually how throughout the years urbanization impacted our physical world.
Collective Spark
Collective Spark
I had the privilege to attend a Sustainability Day at work, just as NZ was preparing to open the borders for tourism post-COVID. My 20 years experience in the travel industry, which included visits across six continents, 50 countries, and a brief fly-over Antarctica, created a huge sense of awareness regarding the impact of humans on the planet. While traveling, I always tried to 'become the local' to learn about the community driven by the philosophy of Regenerative Tourism: the idea that travel should play a positive role in the local community and environment.
That perspective fundamentally changed on this specific day. I was introduced to the Māori concept of Kaitiakitanga (guardianship), which profoundly emphasized our deep responsibility to the natural world. That was the paradigm shift, I realised I could be doing so much more right here at home by becoming a regenerative citizen. I already had all the ingredients: a hobby of painting, a passion for native animal, fauna and flora, my regular beach walks and visits to Auckland Regional parks, and the knowledge & awareness I could be making a positive difference. I made some small, decisive tweaks: I became a volunteer at my local park to protect the native environment, and I decided to use the ocean pollution I found as my art medium to help raise awareness of the impact humans are making. This commitment to collective action and local guardianship became the spark that ignited both the Toxic Tide Transformative Art Project and the Seize the Tide Conservation Movement.
My hope is simple: that sharing this journey helps just one person to pause, rethink pollution, or be inspired to create their own ripple effect.
Bridge to Art
Part of the archives, this student research project became the Prequel for Toxic Tide and Seize the Tide, my conservation movements. I’ve always felt that if you want to solve a problem, you first have to understand how it got broken. That means knowing the history and the proportion. A few years back during my studies for a land surveying project, I used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map the historical growth of the Whangaparāoa area. My goal was simple: to visually demonstrate how rapid urban development literally changed the ground we stand on. Seeing the land transform over the years was an eye-opener.
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