‘But where are all the trees?’ exhibition of paintings by Mandy Patmore, explores the life of our native trees; from forest to housing, from rubbish pile to Gallery wall. If the wood could speak, what would it tell us?
22 JUNE – 14 JULY 2019

‘But where are all the trees?’ explores the life of our native trees; from forest to housing, from rubbish pile to Gallery wall. If the wood could speak, what would it tell us? Would it tell us of the 1000 years it spent as a tree? Would it speak of being milled, then being part of a home for humans, soaking up layers of paint and memories, of all those who dwelt there? Or would it speak of being discarded as rubbish, before having new life breathed back into it, which aims to make people consider all that we have lost?
An estimated 80 percent of the country was covered in forest before humans arrived in New Zealand.
Since then, milling and fire have destroyed much of our indigenous forest. Today, indigenous forest covers less than one-quarter of the country, mainly in mountainous areas. In coastal and lowland areas, much of the remaining forests are in small and isolated fragments.
Although the rate of loss of indigenous forests has slowed, it has not stopped. Between 1996 and 2012, we lost a further 10,000 hectares of indigenous forests.
Once forest is lost, it is difficult to restore; CLICK HERE FOR MORE
photos: Jacob Hamilton












