I am of Pakeha and Ngāi Tahu descent and my marae is at Moeraki. I live at Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula and my name is Raewyn Helms-Davis.
Making portraits has always been what I do, an instinctual thing really, and I’ve always been drawn to the faces of Māori as subjects for painting. Last year I received a grant from Creative New Zealand to continue work on my project ‘The Modern Face of Ngāi Tahu’ towards an exhibition of the portraits in 2026. It seems a long way off, but already I’m thinking there is a lot of mahi to do between now and then.
What I realised through the process of working through my grant application is that all of the work I have done previously has led me to creating these portraits, which tell something about my iwi.
Ngāi Tahu has a rich history in Aotearoa and populates most of Te Waipounamu. Researching this project has had me looking at our history, but mainly seeing the ways that whānau are succeeding in these modern times in every imaginable field… in business and finance, in conservation of the whenua, in art and culture, in connecting whānau to their whakapapa and honouring tīpuna. Ngāi Tahu are a visionary iwi who look after their people. My aim is to illustrate a cross-section of people who represent some of the aspects of Ngāi Tahu’s place in modern Aotearoa.
I’d heard that the application process to Creative NZ is notoriously complex, demanding and competitive, and discovered that it’s true. Probably the most challenging task I’ve ever confronted, it took two entire winters toiling away on my computer instead of being in my studio where I prefer to be. My first attempt was unsuccessful, so I learned that the most essential ingredients to succeed were determination and 110% passion for your project. Add garnering support from people to supply letters of recommendation, budget advice, making a video, lots of moral support and some helpful guidance from the advisors at Creative New Zealand. Figuring out a timeline with a deadline, plus exact details for the project costs are also essential. Importantly, I had to examine why I want to make this art, where does it come from, and what is its purpose? How will it benefit the people of New Zealand? At the end of the day, the process was enormously enlightening – it has given me a better understanding of my work and added another layer to the journey.
My paintings generally take several months to complete and are prolific in content rather than number. The thing about creating a portrait of someone is that it’s not about me, the artist, making an artwork – it’s making an artwork that is an interpretation of someone else’s life and their story, like a visual biography. And there’s a responsibility that comes with that – a person has placed their trust in you with their image, therefore it’s important to honour that trust and tell their story in the best possible way. I endeavour to search out a person’s best qualities and love the challenge of finding that expression that sums up so much about a person. I take a lot of reference photos when I am with the subjects so that I can look at them all later to help find that particular expression, and then design the rest of the work around that. Environment is also an important aspect of their story and I might refer to a dozen or more photos to get that person’s ‘look’. The most exciting part for me is when at some point during the work, I’ll get a sense of the person’s wairua – that’s when I know that it’s going to be a successful portrait … when the wairua has come into the work. It has a life of its own then; it has its own mana.
My current work is a portrait of renowned photographer Fiona Pardington. The upcoming Mercury Bay Art Escape will be an opportunity to come and visit my studio and see some of these portraits before they leave for Christchurch later this year.
Visit www.mercurybay-artescape.com for more details. I will look forward to seeing you!
words by Raewyn Helms-Davis
Raewyn’s website: www.artloft.co.nz
pictures by Hannah Whiter
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