Tanya - This is Aotearoa

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.”

What, if anything, have you done differently after visiting this site?

Matty

Matty

Matty | Richmond, Nelson - "Rocko hadn’t had one birthday in the same place, every birthday was in a different country. So, I recognised a pattern, and how it made me feel, and Nelson is a nice place. It’s very important that they have a base and some roots and have a place that they can always call home."
Nick

Nick

Nick | Ōtara, Auckland - "Home for me, is about feeling loved with family and letting the next generation know that family is important to our lives, and to our struggles or whatever we’re going through in life."
Rachel

Rachel

Rachel | The Wood, Nelson - "2010 was when we lost three family members in the Haiti earthquake, and I left New Zealand to support my sister, and when I came home to Nelson, it was just really amazing the community support that was there for all of us in so many ways, to get us through that time."
Harold

Harold

Harold | Māngere, Auckland - "My digital home is a place that we have a sense of belonging to, where we can talk to friends, communicate with people all over the world, and you don’t feel as alone maybe, as you do if you were just in your house and you didn’t have any form of way of communicating with the rest of the world."
Michaela

Michaela

Michaela | New Plymouth, Taranaki - "I think you can be in lots of different places and make them your home if you’re willing to connect to a community and be part of a community then that can be your home."
Aaron

Aaron

Aaron | Māngere, Auckland - "The plan is to settle down and change my life. That’s my hope. I’m trying to look for another job, but just been doing a few courses with MIT."
Ana Maria

Ana Maria

Ana Maria | Epsom, Auckland - "Donde me siento segura, donde me siento amada, libre de expresión, donde puedo inviter amigos, y disfrutar de little, mi pequeño palacio. Where I feel safe, where I feel loved, free to express, where I can invite friends, and enjoy my little palace."
Levi

Levi

Levi | Māngere, Auckland - "I’m homeless. I’m struggling in life because of that, but I’m thinking in the future, I still put my head up high. No matter what happens I lift my head up and walk tall and think of the future."
Fletcher

Fletcher

Fletcher | Otūmoetai, Bay of Plenty - "Because if you don’t have family, you have nothing. To me, family is everything. Having brothers and my mum, my stepdad. So, yeah that’s the main important thing to me, family first."
Padma

Padma

Padma | Ruby Bay, Nelson - "After having designed many houses and homes for people, it’s not about the bricks and mortar. It’s not even about a place which is a receptacle of your belongings. Is it about identity? Perhaps. To me it’s more about that connection."

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.

What, if anything, have you done differently after visiting this site?

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