Painting as place-based environmental belonging : advocacy for local indigenous plants through relational practice : an exegesis submitted in partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Massey University Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa, Wellington

Abstract

This practice-led research investigates how painting can function as ecological expression, operating simultaneously as a means of artistic articulation, a relational mode of knowing, and a form of ecological advocacy. Through expressive painterly engagement, the research explores how painting can form close connective relationships with indigenous forest plants and local ecologies in Aotearoa. Situated in an old-growth, semi-coastal forest fragment in Pukekura Park, Ngāmotu/New Plymouth, the project asks: 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘺, 𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴-𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥, 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘤 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴?

Working 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 the forest, the methodology combines phenomenological immersion, sensory attunement, and extended field-based painting, later expanded in the studio into larger-scale works. Painting functions as a relational mode of knowing; a forest–studio–thought assemblage in which knowledge emerges through encounter, gesture, and proximity. Heidegger’s ideas of nearness, dwelling, and unconcealment ground painting as a mode of being alongside the forest, where forms arise through openness and attentive relation rather than detachment. Nearness is expressed materially: compressed spatial fields, foregrounded plant forms, tactile brushwork, perceptual closeness, temporal layering, and chromatic density invoke dwelling as environmental belonging. Gestures express not distant landscapes but moments of entanglement amongst the forest undergrowth.

Deleuze and Guattari further inform the practice through becoming-forest, territorial assemblages, and diagrammatic emergence, enabling multiplicity, variation, and non-hierarchical relations. Larger studio works incorporate eco-motifs (especially kohekohe seed pods) acting not as fixed symbols but as forces that anchor painterly vitality to ecological specificity. This balances abstraction’s immersive intensity with species-level advocacy, unsettling colonial landscape conventions while supporting indigenous forest regeneration.

Key contributions include the articulation of 𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰-𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 as a relational mode of place-based care; the development of a painterly language of ecological expression privileging proximity, multiplicity, and chromatic density; and the proposition that painting can operate as ecological advocacy by making indigenous plants present as living agents rather than scenic backdrops. Ultimately, painting becomes a dwelling practice (philosophical, sensory, and active) cultivating closeness, attention, and care for the forest.