A renowned Cook Islands artist is ready to showcase her love for her country through her hibiscus paintings in commemoration of her 100th career exhibition.

New Zealand-born and based Cook Islander Sylvia Marsters, who has been painting for about 35 years now, has returned to her homeland to exhibit her work and share the meaning of being a Cook Islander with her people.

At the opening of her 100^th exhibition at the Bergman Gallery in Rarotonga tonight, Marsters also aims to showcase the treasures of Cook Islands culture and heritage.

The much-anticipated exhibition “E Kura Reitumanava no Rarotonga” will feature 18 original paintings and four prints of flower portraits with a taste of Cook Islands’ environment and way of life.

“I feel a strong connection to the Cook Islands, and when I started painting, my dad passed away, so it was a way to connect with my Cook Islands heritage,” Marsters told Cook Islands News.

“Even though I was born and raised in New Zealand, I still felt there was a lot of Cook Islanders in New Zealand, and I felt a very strong connection with my Cook Islands side. I began painting with flowers as a way to connect my New Zealand life and Cook Islands life.”

Speaking about the title of the exhibition, “E Kura Reitumanava no Rarotonga’, Marsters explained “that beautiful phrase is my love letters to Rarotonga”.

“I think after all this time of painting, it’s my first acceptance and acknowledgement of my Cook Islands. It’s my Cook Islands heritage, not my family, not anybody else, but my own personal feelings.”

Some portraits and paintings that will be featured in tonight’s exhibition will showcase people riding scooters, children jumping off the wharf and all the creative people at the markets. Some of them include the ocean, the vaka, the lagoon and even the tourists.

Marsters says adding people to her painting is a way to acknowledge that this is the Cook Islands, not New Zealand, and having exhibited locally and grounded her work in the Cook Islands, she views this as a way to give back to the community.

“I think to all the cherished memories that I have of being here, and I’m grateful, so incredibly grateful, to be able to come here and to share my work with the Cook Islands community so I hope that people will come and look and be able to pick out all the little areas of Rarotonga that I fell in love with,” she added.

When asked about the essence of the flowers in her paintings, Marsters explains that they’re not just any flowers but ones that are important to the Cook Islands and the Pacific Islands.

“It’s like a symbolic thing, you know, like the hibiscus behind the ear, all these special flowers that are significant to Pacific and so I think the flowers are important to Pacific Islanders, particularly, because I think the women are amazing, resilient, powerful, beautiful, especially the old mamas,” she said.

Marsters also explained that flowers in her paintings gave them a much brighter appeal and represented something uplifting and joyful.

“What I’m aiming for is something uplifting. So you walk in, you see the colour first, and the colours very important for me too, which was great that I’d started painting with flowers because you appreciate the way that colour can make you feel,” she said.

“I want them to have a feeling of being uplifted and the joy of life.”

Marsters said that for people and artists in New Zealand, who have Pacific Islands heritage, connecting with their roots is an important part of building confidence and creating a strong foundation mentally, physically and spiritually.

“It’s an important part of who they are because I was urged to do that when I first started painting and I found it a wonderful way to build your spirit.”

The historic exhibition will be opened by special guest speaker Debbie Sorensen, the chief executive officer of Pasifika Medical Association, at 6pm.