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AAA2023 Closing CelebrationFriday 6 October 5-7pm
Gia Espelita, Good Girl
Maria Milmine
Gaayathri Nair
AAA2023 Closing Celebration
Panel talk and party
5-7pm, Friday 6 October
Flux & Forge, Te Whare Pukākā, Block 1 Massey University Wellington, Pukeahu Campus
This final gathering for the season featured delicious Filipino kai and kōrero with Maria Milmine, Gia Espelita, Jas Sabrine and Gaayathri Nair, facilitated by AAA Creative Director, Kerry Ann Lee.
The kōrero explored the messy-yet-vital space between cultures, in particular challenging expectations and stereotypes of being a ‘good migrant’. What does it mean to be a third culture kid in Aotearoa right now, as an ally and tangata Tiriti? And how might art, design, music, conversation and creative practices offer tools for connection, expression and new possibilities to survive and thrive?
Maria Milmine(she/her) is a Filipina counsellor and mental health professional based in Pōneke who’s practice draws on Indigenous knowledge and culturally responsive ways to support growth and resilience. Learning about systemic issues of race and the impacts of colonisation has been a significant part of learning about her own cultural identity, and has informed her place as tauiwi and tangata Tiriti here in Aotearoa.
Gia Espelita (she/her) is a 4th Year Visual Communication Honours student at CoCA whose research and graphic design work explores food, memory, identity and expression as a Filipino Tauiwi.
Jas Sabrine (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist with a lens-based practice. Jas’ work focuses on Filipino diasporic cultural expression in Aotearoa.
Gaayathri Nair is a counsellor currently working in private practice. At its core she believes that counselling is a collaborative and creative act because it requires us together to imagine a life better than the one that is currently being lived and find a pathway to getting there. Therefore she is always looking for opportunities to collaborate and create a better world. This includes her work with Fireside Collectiveand the popular 'How to Talk to Your Racist Uncle' workshops. She currently am working on putting down roots, literally and figuratively as she tries to become a more competent gardener in Te Awakairangi (Lower Hutt) where she lives with her partner and Kevin the greyhound. She is also a passionate knitter.
Kerry Ann Lee (she/them) is a Cantonese Tauiwi artist, designer and AAA founding organizer. Her scholarship has contributed to Asian Aotearoa art and design education over the past 15 years.
