Hori from the bush

Robert Jahnke, Lamentation III, 2019. Wood, paint, one-way glass, mirror, fluorescents, electricity. Poem by Tina Makereti, 'Titi Treaty'. Photo by Norm Heke

I grew up on a pā in the backblocks of Waimarino National Park. I’m a country boy at heart, a hōri who dropped out at the age of 15. I failed School C because I was playing Spacies with my mates and missed the exams. I discovered I had a talent for drawing – my mates would constantly ask me to draw pictures for them on the inside covers of their school books.

After dropping out of high school I got a job on a farm and quickly realised the real world sucked worse than school. I knew I needed to upskill if I was to make a life for myself. Almost a year working on the farm and I get a call from my mother who tells me about an art course at the Whanganui Regional Community Polytechnic. The next day I pack my clothes into a pillowcase, say goodbye to my nan and koro and hitchhike to Whanganui to live with my aunt and uncle over the summer. While there I cobble together a portfolio of drawings, apply to the course and get accepted onto the foundation arts programme for the 1995 intake.

Read the rest of the story at Pantograph Punch