Hineahuone

The only image that came to me before doing this painting was a shell. It was silver and glittering like a mirror. I felt after painting the shell in the bottom left hand corner where I had seen it in the mental image, that there was more to paint around it. So I started drawing intuitively on the canvas and the image of a women came. The maori word ‘oneone’ came to me as I was painting her face. I also felt quite emotional and cried tears of a deep love. I looked up the word ‘oneone’ and found out that it meant ‘soil’ in te reo maori. I then researched maori creation stories as I felt this had relevance and found the story of Hineahuone, the first women who was made from the soil. 

What an honour to be painting about this subject, the beginning of creation. There is so much written about this subject, teachings that are cultural, religious, spiritual and scientific, but all ultimately the same truth. I believe the epitome of this subject is that we were all created out of love.  Baha’u’llah writes manifesting the Divine Teachings: “O SON OF MAN! I loved thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life."

The shell is a perfect symbol for the beginning of creation. The shell and the spiral in the Mayan culture and in many other cultures represent the beginning and creation. Organisms with shells such as trilobites were among the first creatures to exist on earth 350 billion years ago. It was a symbol of potential of what was to come and what still is to come out of love.