Journal

There have been thoughts about art quietly gathering in my mind for some time.

Why do we create art? Why have human beings, throughout history, felt compelled to capture moments of beauty, express what words cannot, and leave traces of their experience behind?

Inspired by a weekend spent exploring exhibitions at the Ashburton Art Gallery, Moya reflects on the nature of art itself. Moving between poetry, illustration, rebellion, nocturnes, pigments, and artificial intelligence, she considers how materials become vessels for meaning and how art shapes our experience of the world. Through the lens of...

This blog post reflects on artist Moya Radley's transformative experience painting in the Nevada desert in 2023. Faced with intense heat, unfamiliar terrain, and the disorienting challenge of driving and creating in a foreign environment, Moya was pushed well outside her comfort zone. When her travel companion contracted Covid early in the trip, it...

After two discouraging comments about her artistic ability — one from a passerby and another from a fellow artist — Moya fell into a period of deep self-doubt, questioning her value and role as an artist. This led her to withdraw from creating and instead turn inward, drawing on her philosophical training to explore the purpose and meaning of...