Claudia Jowitt: Uana/Carried by the Waves

In her first solo exhibition in a public gallery, artist Claudia Jowitt dives deeply into the sculptural possibilities of paint. This exhibition is a luminous celebration of materiality, memory, and cultural resonance—gathering together a body of wall-based and three-dimensional works that feel as much like touchstones as they do works of art.

The title Uana, meaning ‘to be carried away by the waves’ in vosa vakaviti (Fijian), sets the tone for an exhibition where paint becomes a sculptural tool that flows, pools, and grows like the water and coral of an ocean reef. The works speak with the rhythms of the waitui — the seas that surround the islands of Jowitt’s paternal heritage—and evoke the subtle colours, patterns, and textures of the environments that inspire her.