Medeina… the protector of the forest
Medeina is a beautiful little girl. She sees the world with inquisitive eyes. She touches everything she can reach and her face lights up as she experiences interactions with the world. Her name was chosen to reflect the Lithuanian origin for the word tree or forest. In Lithuanian mythology she is the ruler of the forest, trees and animals. She caught a firefly and is elated with the experience. Like Patupaiarehe she is tasked to protect the forest.
The sculpture brings many aspects of the world together. The child herself with her Northern European Mythology as part of her DNA, to bring her to New Zealand to the land of some of the most spectacular forests, to connect her to the forests here, the local culture of reverence to the forests just seems apt. Seeing that we are as humanity more similar than we are different. The firefly in her hand, a tiny creature found on all continents of the world except Antarctica, although not indigenous to New Zealand, reminds us of the glow worms and their own magic.