Termites

Rowena Pearce’s brother, Mick Pearce, became internationally known for buildings that quietly mimic the wisdom of termite mounds, regulating heat and air through form, mass and movement rather than machinery. At the heart of both their imaginations lay The Soul of the White Ant by Eugène Marais, a book that reveals the termite colony as a single living intelligence, shaped by soil, air and time. For Rowena, this vision of hidden systems and collective life beneath the surface became a lasting source of wonder, quietly infusing her art with attentiveness to earth, insects, decay and the unseen architectures of the natural world.