Maharlina Gorospe-Lockie was born in Manila, Philippines, in 1969 and moved to Cairns in 2013. A professional anthropologist, she worked in coastal zone management in the Philippines, looking at ways impoverished fishing communities relied on the mangroves and coral reefs for food, income and survival. Her extensive research and knowledge of these practices inform much of her current arts practice.

For Maharlina, the move to Cairns was an opportunity to reconnect with the tropics after several years living in Canberra and Yeppoon and reignited her passion for creating artworks that articulate the fragile yet life-giving properties of tropical coastal environments. She explains,

My landscapes are imagined. They are assembled from memories and impressions gleaned through fieldwork, travel and contemplation… My goal for each painting is to create an alluring image, an image that will bait the viewer, encourage them to look more closely to sense hints of trouble and, ultimately, to reflect on their own feelings and responses.

Once Was tells a story about our changing natural world. Using deceptively appealing colours and textures, the artist challenges the viewer to identify differences between what is gone and what remains in our natural environment. Her work Was Bare 2022 depicts the dying world of coral reefs hidden from view by alluringly draped fishing nets and other foreign matter – ironically the silent agents of their destruction.