Opening Speakers:
Hon. Henry Puna, Prime Minister of the Cook Islands
Sylvia Marsters, Exhibiting Artist
Sylvia Marsters’ Hibiscus Hedge marks a new phase in her ongoing exploration of botanical imagery, following her acclaimed series New Yorkers Don’t See Flowers (VOLTA Art Fair, NYC, 2014) and the intricate gardenia compositions presented at the Auckland Art Fair in 2016. These latest works intensify her engagement with realism, reflecting an evolving sensitivity to structure, form, and the interplay of memory and place.
Marsters credits her time in New York City as a pivotal influence on her approach to composition and scale. She recalls the experience of returning home, where the aerial view of expansive landscapes—canyons, mountains, and water veins—became metaphorically linked to the organic structures found in flowers. This synthesis of natural forms manifests in Hibiscus Hedge, where the meticulous layering of brushstrokes transforms each bloom into a map of time and process.
A visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and an encounter with the works of Paul Gauguin further reinforced Marsters’ sense of cultural recognition within a global artistic context. Like Gauguin’s depictions of Polynesia, her hibiscus compositions evoke a world both real and remembered. Transporting viewers to a nostalgic, unhurried island existence, Hibiscus Hedge celebrates the vibrancy of Cook Islands heritage—where life moves at its own rhythm and the ever-present hibiscus hedge stands as a symbol of warmth, familiarity, and home.
