[3] Laita's work straddled the figurative and the abstract and she was well known for large-scale paintings on various supports, from stretched canvas to black building paper.
[5]: 86 Helen Kedgley and Bob Maysmor, the curators of the 2008 exhibition Samoacontemporary, described Laita’s work as ‘layered with feeling – many of her paintings explore intense personal experiences and family histories.
Laita often embedded words and phrases in her paintings, hinting at veiled knowledge and withheld information; she deliberately avoided overt messages in her work.’[4] Karen Stevenson writes of Laita's work, 'Her artistic practice has to do with creating a visual language that reflects the complexity of the oral traditions of the past.'
They spent one month in Samoa and built on research they began for their exhibition Vahine in 2002 on ancient rock platforms called tia seu lupe (pigeon snaring mounds).
[8] Laita had exhibited prolifically in New Zealand and internationally including Te Moemoea no Iotefa (1990/1991), Bottled Ocean (1993/1994) and Vahine (2003).