Next time you pop into our store in Newmarket, Auckland, you may find something extra to brighten your day! We have collaborated with esteemed light and installation artist Trish Campbell to feature six stunning lightworks in our store. These pieces are exclusive to Martha’s customers and are available for sale, so you can have your very own limited-edition artwork to light up your life every day.

New Zealand-based artist Trish Campbell is a talented and well-recognised artist that has exhibited her work all over the country in museums and galleries, including exhibiting in Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and being selected as a finalist in the National Contemporary Art Awards in 2019 and 2021.

Using LEDs, gel and acrylic, Trish has been experimenting with colour since the very beginning of her practice. Drawing from the works of the Light and Space Artists movement from the 1960s, she has worked to transpose these grand-scale works of light into something for domestic settings. “I was being driven by the feeling these materials were creating within me,” she says. “I unknowingly created something to nourish myself, but have found since, many others feel the same. They are a tonic and a mood enhancer as well as an artwork.”

When asked about her inspiration for this collaboration she spoke of an exciting mixture of fabric and art. “I often visit Martha’s and have bought fabric there for curtains, cushions or just because I cannot simply leave without a piece of that gorgeous material!   Going into Martha’s is like wandering into an art gallery for me, their displays are inspirational, always filled with colours and textures and competing patterns.  When I approached Martha’s about a collaboration, it was with the idea that I needed to work on something that was ‘freeing’ and a sense of fun, no limits or expectations – just a go with the flow vibe. Working with these fabrics gave me a lot of inspiration and also a memory download of all the fabrics I grew up with and watching my Mother and sisters turn into clothing.  Our lounge at home usually had fabric laid out ready for adaptation.  It was plugging into these memories and shaking things up with Martha’s fabrics that resulted in this new wave of lights,” she said.

When creating these lights Trish was able to match the colourful, maximalist theme of Martha’s with a full range of colours and the liberation of creative freedom. Trish hopes that “people feel a sense of joy and light from the lightworks.  The spaces in Martha’s provide a vignette of the domestic – a place where my work grew out of and will always belong.”

We also loved that having no creative restraints meant Trish was able to dive into her pile of offcuts and left-over strips to repurpose them for something stunning, preventing a lot of wastage in the process!  

Pop in to our store or view the local artwork for sale online for your chance to own a stunning, limited edition art piece that you’ll cherish for years to come.