"Unification" 2026

Unification is a one-of-a-kind sculptural work by New Zealand artist John Allen, and part of the Unity series — a body of work rooted in a single, profound idea.

The root is cut lengthwise, split open to expose its interior, sanded smooth, and reassembled — the two mirror-image halves placed side by side. In doing so, a heart emerges. Not imposed, not carved — simply revealed. The tree already held it.

Unity, as John Allen understands it, is not something imposed from outside. It is something arrived at from within — through the willingness to open oneself, to do the inner work, to release what no longer serves, to accept what is. It is in that process of self-exposure and self-knowing, of individuation, that the paradoxical deeper realisation emerges: that we are not separate at all. That beneath the surface of individual experience, we are in unity with everyone and everything.

The base is a volcanic rock from Auckland — grounding the work in the land from which both materials came.

Pōhutukawa root (Beachlands) · Volcanic rock (Auckland) · Oil and wax · 400 height × 300 × 300mm