Nicole Manley is a practicing artist and works part-time as a soil hydrologist for the British Geological Survey, where she combines her scientific field in ecology and hydrology with her art. She received a distinction for a Masters of Research in Creative Practices at the Glasgow School of Art, UK and now is developing projects to combine art and science to provide better holistic solutions for complex environmental problems.
"I plan to create photographic collages and embroidery inter-relating scientific concepts of rivers and Maori connectedness of water."
Nicole used the NZ Pacific Studio library to study existing Māori art relating to water and develop artwork that combines her scientific understanding of rivers with Māori Art. She is presently developing a PhD, which will investigate how art can provide knowledge relating to rivers that may be important towards recognising the rights to rivers, as have been granted, not only for the Whanganui River, but also for the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers in India. This residency provided Nicole with a library and reflexive space to allow her to develop her ideas further, in terms of understanding existing Māori artworks in relationship to water and to develop her own artworks.