Dr Leonie Ngahuia Mansbridge is of Ngāti Maniapoto desent, a tribe based in the Waikato-Waitomo region of the North Island of New Zealand.  She moved to Fremantle, Western Australia in the 1970’s and has remained there ever since, making frequent trips back home where she is nourished by whanau and whenua.  It wasn’t until she was in her late thirties that she took up art seriously and attended Claremont School of Art. “I have always been creative, out of necessity,” she says. “I made all my clothes using one pattern and changing it up with material – adding things like black felt stars on a white mini dress. In 2018 she completed a Creative Doctorate at Curtin University, Perth, Australia. Leonie has exhibited consistently for more than twenty years and has received a number of awards, including finalist in the Joondalup community Invitation Art Awards. This year (2022) Leonie has been invited to exhibit in the Bangladesh Biennale. Leonie’s works seek to explore her identity, using the landscape to connect to her Māori heritage.