Lonnie Hutchinson's practice is largely inspired by exploring female roles and identities. Her further interests in pattern, the interplay of light and shadow, and the navigation of space and time are enriched by her Māori and Samoan heritage.

The papercut work Cinco 2002 plays on positive and negative space to symbolise Samoan philosophical ideas of vā, a space through which an ancestral past emerges into the present. The work’s circular form references the ancient tia seu lupe (star-shaped rock structures) that are found in the landscapes of Samoa. Cinco also recalls the delicate nature of lace, a highly valued fabric that was introduced to Samoa by Christian missionaries in the nineteenth century, the making of which was designed to ‘keep young women’s hands busy’.

Becoming Sound 2021 reflects on the significance of rongoā (traditional Māori medicines), not only for healing people, but also for healing Papatūānuku (Mother Earth). The internal black space of the aluminium sculpture represents Te Kore and the Māori idea of the void where all things begin. Viewers access Te Kore through the intricate kawakawa leaf-shaped cut-outs. A plant indigenous to Aotearoa New Zealand, the kawakawa is widely used for wellness, and represents the state of soundness offered by Māori medicinal knowledge systems.

Crux decussta, I am the sea (the sea is me) and Celestial bodies, all 2022, represent the first body of Hutchinson’s work to engage with her Scottish ancestry, which was discovered through a DNA test. These works combine Scottish and Polynesian iconography to celebrate all aspects of the artist’s heritage, as well as the hybrid nature of our cultural stories in the twenty-first century.