Meet the artist behind our 50th birthday icon
Lawyer by day – artist by night: Steph Northey (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Tukorehe, Ngāi Te Rangi) lives a bright, bold whirlwind.
We are delighted Rotorua artist Steph agreed to make our 50th anniversary image – and absolutely thrilled with the image she created: a funky retro nod to our 1975 birth date and a full-noise blast of energetic activist colour – juicy jelly-tip hues – starring a wahine wearing her values on her heart … just as we aim to do every day.
We asked Steph about her approach to all her art – her words below have been edited for clarity:
“I wanted to create art that was modern, funky, cool, relatable to Māori – art for my own whare and for whānau and friends. I do some really heavy pieces too – like whakapapa-inspired ones and protest pieces – but mostly I want bright and light and fun. And you know, my kids love that. They can relate.
“I also just love it. I love being Māori and celebrating wāhine Māori. My piece showing Hiwa i te Rangi is about hope and aspiration and how it’s cool to be Māori –that’s the kōrero I want to teach everybody. I work in a kaupapa Māori law firm so we live and breathe being Māori every day and it’s just who we are. [Impressively, Steph is the managing partner (i.e.: the boss) of Kāhui Legal.]
Hiwa i te Rangi
“I’ve made art my whole life. Historically I worked on larger canvases but they take a really long time and I’m out in the shed on the weekend and my little one goes out there and has a tutū, and she actually painted over something! It gets a bit chaotic. So now I make my art on A4 paper and I just literally can carry it around the house; I sit at the kitchen table, and tutū round with it, and I can draw while the kids [aged 5 and 10] are watching their movies, or my husband’s watching the news. It’s a lot easier than the big canvases, and printable and scalable. I started sharing that type of art because it was a way I could create lots and lots of different pieces of art in a short time. I’ve got pictures everywhere – semi-horder vibes!
“I use alcohol markers – felt pens basically – and watercolour paint. Sometimes I just use my kids’ stuff and we share… I mean I did splurge the other day and bought myself some really nice paints but generally I just use whatever I’ve got around the house.
“Some of my favourite paper is just office paper. I quite like how it goes all crinkly [with the damp markers].”
“I get asked this pātai [“when do you find the time for art?”] all the time but if someone exercises, we don’t say: “when do you exercise?” Art for me is a necessity for my mental health, for my well-being. Making art fills my cup up and my wairua in ways I can’t probably articulate. Part of my hauora and my well-being is doing things that enhance my joy in a regular consistent practice.
“I get up really early, though. I am a super nanny! I’m in bed by like eight or nine, I’m awake by 4 a.m. So when my kids are in bed, I’m off to bed too. Creating art is a way to set myself up for the day. I’m trying to create more than I consume as well.
“One of my favourite pieces is “Me he tē”, which means “Like a boss”. That one I created for the wāhine in my life –inspiring, powerful, strong, beautiful wāhine Māori. My art is about showing wāhine energy that is bright, light, vibrant, and fun. That’s how I express being a wahine Māori leader, and that’s the energy power I want people to feel from my work.”
“I have been a predominantly family lawyer, and I’ve represented wāhine and tamariki my whole life as a professional, so creating art and using my style for the Auckland Women’s Centre was really cool. The Women’s Centre entirely aligns with my kaupapa as an artist and my personal kaupapa and values, such as improving outcomes for all tamariki. And if outcomes improve for Māori, then they improve for everybody. I’m quite passionate about that. I probably could talk to you for another 10 hours about that. Ultimately our shared values are about tautoko and it’s about support of wāhine and that can’t be a bad thing, eh?”
You can find tote bags sporting Steph’s Auckland Women’s Centre 50th anniversary image here!
And check out more of her glorious artwork on her insta and on Look NZ.