My name is Pennyrose Wiggins, artist, sculptor, designer and New Zealander. I am originally from Haumoana, a small beachfront township in the Hawke’s Bay region. My birth home, is located on the east coast of the North Island, of New Zealand. I am presently living and practicing in Darwin, which is right at the northern tip of Australia. Darwin has been my starting point for journeys to other parts of the Australian outback.

Currently, I am interested in painting observations of the Northern Territory. A region I have enjoyed for nearly seven years. I feel like I am beginning to know this place, its wildlife, plants and variations of skyscape and landscape that come with its seasonal changes. With this knowledge I paint birds’ characters, the shapes of clouds, the development of suburbia and the surrounding landscape onto used car bonnets.

The beaten, discarded bonnets I collect for painting onto are marked with scrapes, rust and dirt: a perfect palette to begin painting Northern Territory scenes. I like how the paint moves on the bonnets’ surface and I work with the marks already present, considering their shapes and incorporate them into the imagery. The old bonnets are a reference to travel or you could say a vehicle to view the landscape and birds. ’I think about the differences between the Australian outback and the New Zealand landscape and birds that live in each place.

I think of all the birds that fly between New Zealand, Australia and other places, migrating thousands of kilometres sometimes to the same hill or tree, year after year. I identify with these migratory birds: living in Darwin and returning home to New Zealand for the summer holidays.

These thoughts have been the inspiration for my latest solo exhibition Koe: Bird calls from the past and present. Koe is a series of painted works on boards and found objects depicting birds from Australia and New Zealand. My current art practice is driven by the mythical origins of birds and their migration, and how we imbue them with a spiritual and cultural dimension, as opposed to the reality of their existence.

In some of my recent paintings I focus on the fragility and vulnerability of the native bird, the Huia, which is now extinct due to over hunting and the destruction of its environment.

I want to create worlds where all birds, both extinct and alive, exist in a realm of transition.

Click to learn more about my latest exhibition Koe: Bird calls from the past and present.