Little Messenger takes its title from the pīwakawaka’s role in Māori mythology as a messenger between the gods and the people. In this work, the small native bird is perched atop an acorn — an emblem of the introduced plants that have become embedded in Aotearoa’s landscape.

The sculpture forms part of an ongoing body of work exploring the historical introduction of non-native plants and animals to New Zealand, and the complex, often unintended consequences of those introductions. Here, the familiar acorn becomes something more than a seed: oversized and cast in bronze, it carries the weight of the changes brought to the landscape, while the diminutive pīwakawaka appears almost precariously balanced upon it.