Opononi art exhibition to raise funds for women's refuge

French artist Katell Lecrivain will showcase her first-ever New Zealand art exhibition in Opononi next week. Photo/ supplied

The hilly peninsula of France's Brittany is a long way from the small rural community of Waimamaku, yet it's one place French artist Katell Lécrivain says feels a lot like home.

The soon-to-be-29-year-old moved to Aotearoa New Zealand about four years ago, after making her way through Asia and Australia from Europe.

Lécrivain spent the first few years living in coastal town Raglan before she and some friends bought a little piece of land in the Far North in September.

The artist said both her parents were organic dairy farmers, so it had always been her dream to one day have her own farm.

"The South Hokianga feels a lot like Brittany, so when we found this place, we loved it," Lécrivain said.

"I live with my partner, our two dogs and a goat, and our friends who we own the farm with are surfers so they just come and go.

"Right now we are planting the boundaries to our land with the last of spring natives around the old paddock, as well as growing our gardens and fruit trees."

Lécrivain studied literature and arts at university in France and specialises in oil painting as well as drawing, in particular on old trunks of wood she finds lying around.

She said since coming to the Hokianga last year she'd been able to again pick up her artistic practice, which she said had been inspired a lot by her surroundings.

"It's been just awesome to paint outdoors here and to see the mountains and river, it's a cool spot to create," she said.

"A lot of my art is based around themes in nature, the earth and slow living and introspection into our emotions.

"There's therefore a lot of symbolism, lots of spirals, crowns, waves, women and concepts of the sacred."

To celebrate her recent return to her practice, Lécrivain has decided to showcase some of her art pieces in her first New Zealand exhibition next week at Opononi's Toi Box creative space.

She said she wanted to show the community what she had been up to and to also hold it during Mental Health Awareness Month (May 1- 31) to spark a conversation around the issue.

All proceeds from the exhibition will go to Whare Timatatanga Hou Ora-Kaitaia Women's Refuge.

"I chose that particular organisation because being a woman, art can be a way for us to express our emotions and help us talk about what it feels like to be a woman and some of the things we go through," Lécrivain said.

Whare Timatatanga Hou Ora-Kaitaia Women's Refuge chief executive Waimaria Veza said she was touched by Lécrivain's kind gesture and grateful for any form of support the service received.

She said this year had been busier than ever for the centre and things were showing no sign of slowing down.

"This means a lot to us and we're so thankful to all the community groups out there that generously donate their goods and services to help our clients," Veza said.

"We've seen a 60 per cent increase in demand for services, with Covid-19 obviously having had a huge impact on our numbers, particularly people lacking food, experiencing homelessness and struggling with the cost of living.

"We never stopped working and even took in women and children who had tested positive for Covid-19 as they had nowhere else to go.

"It's thanks to our relationship with other services and donations like this from the community we've been able to continue doing what we do."

Katell Lécrivain's 'Revolve & Resolve' art exhibition will be on from May 23-29 at Opononi's Toi Box, Hokianga Harbour Drive, Opononi car park, Opononi.

For more information, call: 0210 236 6424 or email: toiboxhokianga@gmail.com.