Waikato Business News April/May 2023

WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS, APRIL/MAY 2023 15
The Business of Art
Emerging artist
makes an impact
Exploring the creatives in the business of art
Pounamu Wharekawa
(Ngai te Rangi, they/
themme/ia) is a relative
newcomer on the art scene in
Hamilton but they are already
making a big impact.
A self-described “indigenous
baddie, fine artist, illustrator
and muralist”, Pounamu makes
art that speaks about the “intersections
of identity through
the lens of a queer, small town
turned urban Māori living their
best boring life in the big smoke
of Kirikiriroa”.
Using vibrant technicolour
to depict contemporary versions
of Māori pūrākau (legends),
atua (deity) and ancestors,
Pounamu reimagines them
as if they were a cast of rich and
diverse characters dancing at
the club in downtown Aotearoa.
“I feel like you can’t avoid
your own identity. As a
takatāpui Māori, feminine person
there's no way to avoid any
of my lefty views coming into
my art because I value my own
existence and that of my peers.
So, all of my work is a love letter
to them and the people I
know, and I feel like that in
itself is political. These are trans
people, these are square people,
these are beautiful mana
wāhine who are under appreciated
in our society.”
Participating in the Boon
Street Art Festival in 2021, their
mural of a feminine atua on
Liverpool Street was created in
their last year of Wintec media
arts studies.
“It is about how when you’re
in the city or a different place
from where you whakapapa to/
where you grow up it’s easy to
feel lonely or like it’s not where
you belong. The mural depicts
a rangatahi and a tīpuna hongi-ing,
kind of a play on the saying
my ancestors walk with me
- so the idea that no matter how
alone you feel, your ancestors
are always there with you.”
This stunning piece of street
art is not their first mural
though, it was a mural Pounamu
had painted while at Wintec that
caught the eye of Boon Street
Festival director Craig McClure.
“He saw my first ever mural
and he just hit me up to be in
the mural festival, so that was
pretty cool.”
Making these sorts of connections
is something Pounamu
has actively fostered in the pursuit
of being a fulltime artist.
I feel really lucky
to be working
fulltime as an
artist. I was not
expecting it to be
this close after
graduating.
“I worked really hard, going
out to events and making
friends with people that were in
really good positions to offer me
work or help nurture me. At one
event I just happened to meet
someone who was really good at
funding applications. She fully
took that on for me and she did
not expect anything in return
for it.”
The early success, coupled
with past experiences of undervaluing
their work, has given
Pounamu the confidence to
negotiate with clients’ booking
commission work.
Being able to price accordingly
is something Pounamu
has put a bit of thought into.
After all there’s a lot of time that
goes into a painting regardless
of its size.
“I like to have a price range
in mind that I will never go
under. But I’ll also ask the client
what their budget is and then I
can offer a range of different of
things that I can do for them.”
Before Wintec, Pounamu
had tried their luck at making a
living as an artist but they didn’t
have the business sense at the
time to value their work.
“Basically, I was trying to
sell original illustrations for 30
bucks, which is the same as a
print price. Obviously, I wasn't
doing very well. Like, I just
spent 10 hours on this painting
and I got $20 for it.”
Pounamu credits Wintec
for helping build their business
acumen and professionalism.
“For me, the thing that
was most helpful about Wintec
wasn't the technical stuff it
was building relationships with
my classmates and artists. And
being able to be better at scheduling,
because if you're having
to do assignments, then you get
used to knowing what a deadline
is.”
For Pounamu, working with
others on commissions or collaborations
with other artists
provides a social aspect that
working solo doesn’t.
“I'm lucky I don't have to
take on much that I don't vibe
with. Some of it can be a little
bit more exciting than others,
obviously. At the end of the day,
I really like working with clients
because I feel like it's a lot more
of a collaborative process.
“A lot of artists don't like
doing commissions full stop,
and they’d rather focus on their
own stuff. But I find that it can
be quite lonely as an artist, it’s
very introspective, because you
aren't really talking to anyone.”
Being able to make a living
from art as an emerging artist
is something they don’t take
lightly.
“I feel really lucky to be
working fulltime as an artist. I
was not expecting it to be this
close after graduating. But I was
lucky enough to have built up
quite a decent client base while
I was still studying.”
Much of that study time was
through the COVID lockdowns
and meant time to get stuck in
assignments, as well as contemplate
how to get work out in
front of the public.
“I think COVID was a really
good way for people to stop concentrating
so much on exhibitions.
Because that's one of the
big things as an artist, you're
meant to do. I think people
were experimenting more with
other ways to get their art out
into the world.”
For Pounamu, it seemed
like an ideal time to build an
Instagram following and a website
with the hope of selling art.
“It felt like heaps people
were getting art over COVID
because we were spending so
much time in our houses and so
buying art was a way to tolerate
being stuck in our homes,” they
laugh.
As well as paintings and
large-scale murals, Pounamu
offers a range of prints and
t-shirts through their website.
The small-scale offerings
contribute towards about half
of Pounamu’s income, but more
importantly it makes their art
more accessible.
“When I was studying and
we had to figure out what we
value in art and creativity. One
of the big ones for me was trying
to think of different ways
that I could make my work
more accessible to people like
me, or students or someone on
a benefit.”
Check out Pounamu’s work
at www.pounamuwharekawa.
com.