Wellington artist and illustrator Bonnie Brown, wearing the T-shirt she designed for Pink Shirt Day to encourage people to stand up against bullying. Photo / Marty Melville, NZ Herald
New Zealand has one of the highest school-bullying rates in the developed world. Wellington artist and illustrator Bonnie Brown, the designer behind this year’s Pink Shirt Day, says that needs to change. As told to Joanna Wane
We all have our own memories of bullying. I was always scared of being seen as different and not fitting in, and I really let this get to me as a bit of a quiet, introspective kid.
There are so many little moments in life where you’re made to feel “other” or “less than”. You might not see it as bullying at the time, but when you look back, those are the memories that stick with you.
My younger sister and I were raised by a single mum. Most of our childhood was spent in Queenstown, but during quite a tumultuous time in my family, we moved to a really tiny place in Southland for just under a year.
I was about 8 and it quickly became evident that it wasn’t great to stand out. Anything a little bit different about you – not dressing the same as everybody else or doing things slightly differently – wasn’t necessarily seen as a good thing. Even being in a single-parent household was a point of difference down there at the time.
When we moved back to Queenstown, the wealth disparity was very apparent. I remember having a budget-branded water bottle and someone teasing me that it was because I couldn’t afford anything else.
My younger sister was a really easygoing, confident kid, so she was pretty all right, but I remember someone teasing her at the playground and finding it much easier to stick up for her than for myself. I’m sure a lot of people can relate to that, too.
It helped that my mum has never really cared what people think, in a great way. She’s always encouraged my sister and me to fully be ourselves. Having that backing at home was incredibly important to me.
Every year, I pull a pink item of clothing out of my cupboard for Pink Shirt Day. People wear a lot of black in Wellington and it’s such a change to see the city transformed, not just in schools but in workplaces, too. My sister’s an early childhood teacher and I know they go all out for it.
Pink Shirt Day began in Canada in 2007 after two students stood up for another kid who was being bullied for wearing pink. Being bullied for wearing pink? That’s just kind of ridiculous. So, it’s about flipping that on its head.
But there’s so much more to it than just wearing pink. It’s about saying you’re somebody who will stand up against bullying, that you’re someone in the school or community other people could look to for help. That’s such a strong message.
So, when the Cotton On Foundation and the Mental Health Foundation reached out to see if I was interested in working with them on bringing Pink Shirt Day to life this year, it was an easy yes for me.
“Kōrero Mai, Kōrero Atu, Mauri Tū, Mauri Ora” – “Speak Up, Stand Up, Stop Bullying” – is about choosing to be an upstander, not a bystander. Research shows that more than half of bullying situations stop when other students intervene.
Most of us will have been in one of those situations where we’ve felt uncomfortable. Maybe you’re on a bus and somebody’s being a bit off. You’re looking around, hoping someone’s going to say something or stand up for you, but it just isn’t happening.
We all have to be that person who steps in, whether it’s bullying or something else. Not calling it out is like saying it’s okay to treat people that way.
When I was a teenager, social media was just starting to become a big part of our lives. Now that’s a huge issue. You get no relief leaving school and heading home because it’s all online.
Thinking you’re somehow at fault for what’s happening, or that people won’t understand how you’re feeling, is a big contributor as well.
We have such a tall poppy culture in New Zealand, from school to the workplace, and I think that plays a part, too.
A lot of it comes down to picking on someone who doesn’t fit in or is different, even if it’s in a way that’s incredible and confident and empowering for them. If you’re not following the crowd, bullies look to tear you down.
I was the first in my family to go to university. Although, actually, my mum was studying to be an early childhood teacher at the same time, so really we were both the first in our family.
Coming from a low-income household, I thought architecture would be a financially secure career, but after finishing my degree, I fell into doing illustration and art instead.
I love bold colours, and my goal is to make almost anything I work on quite fun and joyful. Little playful elements you can layer on top of each other – what I call “sticker moments” – feature a lot in my work.
For Pink Shirt Day, it was really important for me to create something fresh you’d reach for because of the design alone, and that could act as a visual reminder any day of the year.
Hopefully even someone unfamiliar with the campaign might think, “That’s a cool T-shirt”, then read the message and get a feel for what it’s all about.
So, on Pink Shirt Day, I’ll be putting on my tee and walking down Cuba St to see how a city that’s normally decked out in black has been flipped on its head.
