'Mother Tongue' (Meanwhile Gallery, Wellington NZ, 2025) is a love letter written in paint. Three mixed-race artists from across Te Ika-a-Māui — Carmel Aroha Salmanzadeh, Jessica Miku and Anthony Zemke — trace the echoes of matrilineal language and culture, reaching for words that live in their mothers’ voices but not their own. 

The show speaks to the intricacies of love, loss, grief and gratitude. To inherit a tongue but not its fluency is to stand at the threshold of intimacy — close enough to hear it, yet unable to fully enter. At its heart are nine paintings that pursue a multifaceted visual language that expresses the artists’ ability (or inability) to connect without language.

To love without saying “I love you” – “ka nui taku aroha ki a koe” / ”دوستت دارم” / “いつもありがとう”