Series Classification: G (General Audiences) | Watch the series here
As New Zealand's cultural landscape expands, artists of Asian heritage are sparking more inclusive conversations through their creative work.
In this short documentary series, 18 Asian-NZ artists from a range of disciplines reflect on how life in Aotearoa informs their work and sense of identity.
In Episode 6, we meet three designers using their creativity to make a statement – graffiti artist Bobby Hung, installation artist Kerry Ann Lee and fashion designer Natasha Ovely.
Dr Bobby Hung: Graffiti Art and Education
Dr Bobby Hung Photo: Supplied
Dr Bobby Hung is a graffiti artist known by the name 'Berst'.
He has painted graffiti for 18 years and is involved in a range of community-centred projects with youth and visual arts education in the tertiary sector.
Bobby's creative practice involves the production of large-scale aerosol artworks in public spaces which also intersect with his studio practices.
Since 2010, he has been involved with Corban Estate Art Centre delivering art workshops and curating graffiti art battles with the aim of engaging youth.
For the past nine years, he has also been employed by the Unitec Institute of Technology where he lectures in art and design education.
Bobby holds a PhD in Education from the University of Auckland and his list of accolades includes a second-place award at the international Ono' U graffiti competition in Tahiti, a Guinness World Record for the world's longest graffiti scroll completed in Dubai, and a place in Unitec's Taipei Artist Village residency programme.
In 2021, he participated in the landmark Dowse Gallery exhibition The Most Dedicated: An Aotearoa Graffiti Story and also created a mural for the Pasifika Festival in South Auckland.
Kerry Ann Lee: Power in Print
Kerry Ann Lee Photo: Cheska Brown
Kerry Ann Lee is an artist, designer and educator who creates multimedia installations, print and image-based works that are site-specific and socially engaged.
As a Senior Lecturer at Massey University College of Creative Arts (CoCA), Kerry Ann works with diverse communities through collaborative projects, mentoring and public programmes.
She is also well known for her work with independent publishing and fanzines over the past 20 years.
As an artist of third-generation Chinese-New Zealand descent, Lee's work reimagines the complex cultural terrain between 'East' and 'West' and the diasporic culture clash occurring in the Pacific.
As a 'visual translator of underground histories and social narratives', Kerry Ann facilitates cross-cultural conversations to connect people to each 'other' through nuanced transnational perspectives.
In 2018, she was creative director of the Asian Aotearoa Arts Hui.
Natasha Ovely: Fashion for All
Natasha Ovely Photo: Supplied
Natasha Ovely's fashion label Starving Artists Fund is a socially conscious, gender-neutral brand based on Auckland's Karangahape Road.
Natasha established the brand not only to share her style and create pieces she loves but also to reflect her ethical values and body positivity.
Her brand offers sizes from 6 to 22 and is sustainably made in New Zealand.
Having studied sculpture, Natasha is a self-taught fashion designer who debuted her first collection at New Zealand Fashion Week in 2018.
She approaches making clothes with the same tactility she applied to her sculpture practice and calls on personal narratives that respond to our times.
Natasha's experiences living in disparate cultures across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and New Zealand have informed her broad frame of reference.
Credits:
Kadambari Raghukumar Photo: Supplied
Presenter: Kadambari Raghukumar
Kadambari Raghukumar is an experienced presenter and TV director who was raised by oceanographer parents in Goa on the southwest coast of India and has been living in New Zealand since 2006. During her 14-year media career, she has been a reporter/director for the TVNZ series Asia Downunder and the TV3 series Neighbourhood. Kadambari currently presents Voices - RNZ's weekly series about people from all around the world who now live in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Arani Cuthbert Photo: Diva Productions
Producer: Arani Cuthbert
Arani Cuthbert is an award-winning independent producer and the founder of Diva Productions. She is the long-term manager of New Zealand entertainers The Topp Twins. Arani produced TVNZ's top-rating series Topp Country - a three-time winner at the 2018 TV Awards and the hit documentary The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls which won Best Feature at the 2019 Qantas NZ Film and TV Awards. Arani is currently developing a comedy feature film.
