This series of paintings is reminiscent of the signs that may have once hung in Chinese laundries, greengrocers, and takeaway shops across New Zealand. Each sign highlights the hard work of early Chinese migrants who built lives and businesses through labour-intensive jobs that others often avoided.

Top-Class Service references laundry work, Freshly Picked highlights market gardening, and Hot & Delicious marks the rise of the Chinese-owned takeaway shop. My ancestors worked in all three industries, beginning with their arrival in the late 1880s. The different colours and fonts in each sign reflect price changes and how new items were added over time.

The low prices on these signs stand in stark contrast to the high costs the early Chinese migrants faced to be here: the £100 poll tax, and later, a £500 bond to bring wives and children during World War II.

The painting listing these fees is intentionally missing from the series - its absence is a silent reminder of the financial burdens New Zealand’s early Chinese settlers carried to belong.