Rewilding

Leigh Martin's Rewilding presents a series of small to medium-scale canvas and linen works created with acrylic and synthetic resin washes. This exhibition marks Martin's return to Jonathan Smart Gallery after six years.

The work addresses reframing humanity's relationship to the land and recovering ecosystems through a Kaupapa Māori perspective, where human and non-human share the same ontology. Central to the series is the Māori proverb "Ka mua, ka muri" — a walking backwards into the future — which informs Martin's creative process.

Rather than discarding past works, Martin has revisited earlier pieces, using mediums that dissolve and reveal previous layers and actions. This process of un-painting creates new potentialities from existing works, expressing a reset grounded in restoration, renewal, and revitalization.