Sold from the Our River exhibition is Rebecca Dowman-Ngapo’s rather remarkable composition, Threads of Life: River Palette. In the artist’s own words:

“As an artist, colour is often where a painting begins. The Waikato River offers an extraordinary palette - from deep greens and soft blues to muddy browns, weathered stones and the shifting colours of its surrounding landscape. Colour becomes a way of measuring and experiencing the river, with the embroidery thread making something intangible almost tangible.

This embroidery organiser holds approximately 153 thread cards, each carrying around eight metres of thread. To stretch thread the full 425-kilometre length of the Waikato River would require roughly 53,125 cards.

Threads of Life: River Edition celebrates the river not as a single colour, but as an ever-changing tapestry of subtle shades, moods and moments - a palette created by nature itself.