A passionate NZ creative honoured us with a presentation to end all other presentations. Never have I been so enraptured by someone on a level ‘stage’ since attending the Riverdance with my mother in my youth.

Sometimes creatives who are successful in their field will ride on the bounties of fame and get caught up in the motions of ‘the Hollywood story’, creating with only a thought of the final audience. Hearing from Welby about his childhood in New Zealand, struggles through a narrow and disrespectful schooling system, and the way he fights for the rights of any overlooked subject (be it himself or others) and depicts that through his work is so inspiring and quite unexpected. It is unusual to see someone passionate enough about what they do that they would go past all bounds of ‘legality’ and take many years uncovering footage of the most hidden areas of hospitals or buried war stories in New Zealand.

Welby’s method of creation is one which I have tried desperately to follow in the past, embodying oneself in the subject and environment, living the work itself as he creates. But I have always found myself overrun by the needs in my life, work or university taking over my mind at every spare moment of the day.

My Project Shadows will be a drastic change from this as I am presenting a subject that I live and breath nearly everyday of my life; Grief.

Upon hearing my topic and the reasoning behind it, Welby gave me one big piece of advice: As the topic is so personal, I need to make sure that I stay safe and lean on the people around me – creating a strong support system as I tackle the emotional aspects of the project. I will be working in an area that could be emotionally draining and destructive if I let it overwhelm me. I have a wonderful network of close friends living with me in Auckland and my family is not too far away, so for now I am settled and comfortable with the thought of tackling this area inside of me.