Ebb and flow _{by Alessia Belsito-Riera}

Twentysix Gallery in Newtown is turning four over the Newtown Festival weekend! To celebrate, the gallery presents iconic Pōneke artist Gina Kiel’s first solo exhibition Tidal Bodies from the 22^nd of February to the 15^th of March.

“It's a time to celebrate”, gallery director Petra Scheuber beams. “The pink carpet will be rolled out for an expected 2000 visitors, with lush tunes from Squeaky Wheels, a warehouse afterparty, and plenty of surprises along the way.”

As for the exhibition, Tidal Bodies explores themes of cyclical change and transformation and marks a pivotal moment in Kiel’s artistic practice, embodying a more intuitive approach to painting.

Known for her delicate yet bold artwork and optical patterns paired with introspective features that explore transformation and renewal, Kiel’s practice spans intimate paintings, large-scale murals, and hand-poked tattoos. Evolving alongside personal milestones, her practice began as a narrative of separation – painted forms split in two – but has since transmuted into a celebration of wholeness and interconnectedness.

“My previous work evolved after I got pregnant unexpectedly at age 24, a time when I felt torn between the person I was and who I had to become. I began painting female forms that were split in half – reflecting how I felt emotionally and metaphorically”, she says. As her son grew up, “the melting, colourful shapes emerging from these divided bodies” became forms of their own.

Tidal Bodies studies the mirrored rhythms between the ocean and the body, the blending of nature and spirit. Kiel’s work displays reverence for this ongoing motion of life – an ebb and flow of experiences – and how these forces shape and reshape us.