The sixth edition of ‘‘South Sea Spray’’, which starts on November 25, will be focused on the work of women.
Festival organiser, local artist Danny Owen, aka Deow, said he had been looking forward to the event for a long time.
‘‘The ‘‘South Sea Spray: Wahine’’ has been five years in the making.
‘‘It is something to show our love to the wahine, the female artists who sometimes could be overlooked but we want to show our appreciation.
‘‘It is an event to celebrate them and their amazing talent.’’
He said each of the 10 artists would paint a large mural and work alongside local female youth and aspiring artists.
‘‘It is the first all-female street art and mural festival in New Zealand with a focus on mentoring, workshops, community engagement, artist talks and discussions around creativity as a wahine artist in Aotearoa.’’
The lineup includes Erika Pearce, Kell Sunshine, Flox, Erin Forsyth, Gina Kiel, Xoe Hall, Miriama Grace Smith, Janine Williams, Margarita Vovna and Misery, along with local artists Nicola Oldenhof, Trudy Burdon and Leah Sellars.
The artists will be also taking part in ‘‘The South Sea Spray: Wahine’’ interactive exhibition from November 26 at 19 The Crescent in Invercargill.
Oldenhof said she was excited to again be part of such an event.
A tattoo artist, this would be her second stint in the street art world, she said.
‘‘It’s a great feeling, I’m really lucky to be a part of an event celebrating the efforts and skills from such a talented group of women with different backgrounds and experience.’’
Without giving too much detail, she said her inspiration would be ‘‘a bit of a tribute to man’s ‘other’ best friend’’.
‘‘I’m very honoured to be painting alongside incredible artists Deow and Leah [Sellars] — both have inspired and encouraged me in my own work.’’
Wellington artist Gina Kiel, who has been painting murals for more than 10 years, was very excited with the theme of this year’s event.
When she started, there were women already doing street art, but she believed the numbers had increased in the past decade.
‘‘I feel really supported and excited. I feel like it’ll be a really awesome way to celebrate each other and sort of reconnect with those who we don’t see often or we have never met.
‘‘It kind of creates a feeling of supporting ... and empowering each other.’’
Her inspiration for her mural this year would be motherhood.
‘‘I’m a mother and a lot of the artists in this festival are also mothers — and that’s something that, as a collective of female artists, we can share that.’’
Along with the murals and the exhibition, the event will also include four workshops, artist talks and the release of South Sea Spray — Deow’s first self-published book.
All book sale proceeds will go back into creating murals and public artworks.
The public will be also able to vote for their favourite mural.
