Some memories seem too ordinary to preserve. Making bracelets from santan flowers, watching sunsets over the sea or spending afternoons with your lola. For Filipina-Australian artist Maiko Sentina, these childhood moments in the Philippines have become precious subjects for her watercolours, holding on to things she never imagined missing.

Born in Cebu, Maiko moved to Australia at 16, leaving behind a life already taking shape. Now based on Kaurna Country on the Fleurieu Peninsula, she finds echoes of home in its coastline and hills. A lawyer working across Indigenous cultural intellectual property and technology, she also paints expressive portraits, still lifes and objects rich with memory.

Her first solo exhibition, RESILIENCE/RESISTANCE, brought together 43 artworks created over 43 days in hospital while undergoing treatment for a serious illness. What began as a distraction became an exploration of creativity as care, leading to her participation in SALA Festival’s Creativity as Care forum and a role on a South Australian government arts advisory committee.

Through water, pigment and paper, Maiko makes room for every part of herself: artist, lawyer, migrant and someone still discovering what home means. Her paintings remind us that even the smallest moments are worth remembering, and that making something can sometimes help carry us through.