Beyond the Dark

Beyond the Dark is an acrylic on wood panel painting, part of a series in created for the current Con-fluent exhibition at Pātaka Museum & Art Gallery (21 Feb - 12 April 2026). The Con-fluent exhibition is a collaborative project between local visual artists and poets. For this occasion I teamed up with Charmaine Thomson who is a published poet and for our research we delved into the concept of “domesticated Minotaur”, the deeper, symbolic meanings of Labyrinth, and the role of red threads and ropes as a pathway to sexual and spiritual liberation. Beyond the Dark is an artistic response to Charmaine’s poem Ariadne Remembers – particularly the verse: This disremembered child, discarded in the grays, awaiting smashed light, shadows become rivers..