Two Worlds In The Cut

Two Worlds is an intricately hand-cut artwork exploring cultural connection, storytelling and the symbols that bind people to place.

Created during FLOX’s Artist in Residence experience in Sumba, the work grew from time spent listening to local stories, observing traditional practices and exploring the island’s extraordinary landscapes, flora and fauna. Woven throughout the composition are references gathered along the way, each carrying a memory or story from her time on the island.

The words UDHOKO / HONGI speak to one of the connections FLOX encountered between Sumba and Aotearoa: the intimate gesture of greeting through the touching of noses. Though belonging to two distinct cultures and traditions, the gestures offered FLOX a poignant reminder of home and became a central thread within the work.

Buffalo, orchids and indigo botanicals inhabit the landscape, while the crocodile — a powerful and revered figure within Sumbanese belief and mythology — occupies an elevated position in the sky.

At the centre, a traditional Sumbanese house is held within an architectural form referencing the marae of Aotearoa: two places of gathering and belonging brought into quiet conversation. High above, a small boy sits atop the soaring roof of the Sumbanese house — a direct reference to a story shared with FLOX by a local spiritual elder during her residency.

Layer upon layer, Two Worlds brings together what was seen, heard and felt in Sumba with FLOX’s own connection to Aotearoa — not merging the two, but exploring the moments of resonance between them.

Two places. Two cultures. Stories carried across the ocean and brought together by hand.

Medium: Hand-Cut Archival Paper / Float Mounted

Dimensions: Unframed: 700mm x 1020mm / Framed: 820mm x 1110mm

Made In Sumba, Indonesia