Kinda Ray

Be gentle. Be kind. Just be.

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This piece right here is about birth and abortion. Tapu right? But both of these girls have experienced these first hand. They made the choice to open themselves up and share their stories. I was absolutely shocked when this was performed at Pacific Dance festival and i watched the audiences reactions. As these beautiful women spilt their sorrow and joy on stage, men scoffed under their breathes, older women looked away, young people giggled and cringed. It left me gobsmacked. These people couldn't handle the most natural and beautiful process that we as women have to endure. When did birth become Tapu? When did Abortion become unspoken of. 

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ANGA | Dress Rehearsal

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Ko Auē Teia.  When you watch the process, it makes the performance that much more phenomenal. The process is everything but its always forgotten about, because everyone would prefer to see the final product.  Dancers |

Alfred Lilo

Jay Richmond

Rebecca Johnson

Nio Malachi

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Ko Auē Teia. You have my heart. 

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Being in the room with this was fueling. Men coming together. Men bringing a power. Men supporting the Women.

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Bravery within your art form is important, if you are brave you will do things other people may have been too afraid to do. So be fearless. Create art to open windows for the people who are scared but need the healing. You owe it to all the future artists. You owe it to the people watching over you. You owe it to your own soul.  Flesh out new meaning babe. You are brave.  Model | Tayla Black Photographer | Rainer Evans  Location | Mokau

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“Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love.” 

~ Claude Monet

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Being an artist means forever healing your own wounds and at the same time endlessly exposing them.

Annette Messager (via yelling)

And people still laugh at artists. 

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Singing isn't a strength for me. But I enjoy it. This morning I was vibing. So here's Ray... doing something she doesn't do enough of. Last day here in Mokau and I feel like I've faced nothing but ran away from everything. So tomorrow I head back and face what I left behind. YAY.

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And just like that everything changes and you have to find a new routine, you have to make a new plan and you have to find new happiness.

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Be fearless when you are saving yourself. Be courageous. Jump fences. Open gates. Jump off waterfalls. Set fire to excuses. You will carve out rivers for your babies.  Photo Credit- Barbara Neemia

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“You must be very polite with yourself when you are learning something new.”

— Elizabeth Gilbert

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Be ever so kind x

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Just another Artist

So this is my first blog. Signing up to a blogging site was apart of my Professional practice paper, but I might take this seriously and do some things if you feel me (;  In my first blog I wanted to honour home. The pictures below should give a good indication of where I come from. You're typical country girl moving to the big city, but for some reason I feel right in both places. So I guess I'm lucky. I want my first blog to remind you of the importance of home. Especially for artists. Home is special. Home isn't always a place, but we should all know that by now. Home can be the smell of chicken, the feeling of sand, the big gusts of wind, home can be a person, it can be baking bread or wearing high heels. Home is special to you. You can draw so much inspiration from home. It became your home for a reason. Love it, appreciate it, find it. Im obsessed with my hometown. Mokau is tiny, it has two churches, two cafes, a fire brigade, police station and ambulance shed, once a week a nurse comes to check up on all the old people... and LAST BUT NOT LEAST a little butcher-shop, which my grandparents own. Its perfect in all ways. Not flawless, but its my version of perfect.  But Mokau is my hometown not my Home, I found home in grandparents, they are the big wrinkly hands I collapse into when the city gets a bit much. 

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Inspired by the land.