Tanya | Atawhai, Nelson
“Home does feel like New Zealand, but at the moment, with what’s going on in the UK, I am also really aware of my roots and where I was born. I came from an Indian mother and English father, but my mother was born in Uganda, and she was a refugee in 1972.
Her family had to flee from Uganda and so I was born up in the UK, but then I came here in 2003. I have to say that I have been so welcomed, and my work has been so well received that I do feel that Nelson is my home, and I love the summers here. I love the fruit. I love the vegetables. I love the people and I love the sunshine, but I do know that I could live anywhere in the world, and I could call that home.
Working with former refugees, I think home needs to feel like a safe space. I think if you’ve got food, shelter, and love, for me that’s what’s important. As long as I’ve got those three things, I’m happy.
So, the project is called Cultural Conversations, and it was set up originally in 2019 as a 10-day project just part of Nelson Arts festival, and then more recently in October, I got offered a nature space here in Nelson using an empty property, and with funding from Creative New Zealand until October 2021 we’ve created a hub for former refugees and migrants where we put on performances and concerts, and also display their artwork in the window.
When I’ve travelled, it’s been really interesting, I’ve gone to Mexico, I’ve gone to Egypt, I’ve gone to Greece, I’ve gone to Italy, France, a lot of those countries, and I’ve been able to just blend in and people have thought I’m a local, and then when I did actually go to South India, people had never seen anyone as white as me, and they were like, you’re American, you’re American. There have been times in my life where I’ve thought, who am I, what am I, which cultural group do I actually belong to, because with being mixed heritage, it’s often the place that you don’t feel drawn to one particular group, but here again in Nelson I have friends from many nationalities, and I just feel very accepted for who I am.”
