. Captions by Antony Vlug. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017 Whangarei is the northern-most city in New Zealand and the regional capital of the Far North. It's home to around 55,000 lucky souls. I am born and bred in Whangarei. I'm the 6'5" sequined exclamation mark. I am bicultural. I am Maori. I am Pakeha. And I am gay. And I'm proud of it! Ka-pow! A lot of people think cos I am who I am, I must live in Auckland, but, nope, Whangarei is home, and what a grand place it is! I'd like to show the world that living in a smaller neighbourhood can be just as creative, colourful and empowering as being in the big smoke. In this episode of Neighbourhood, we'll meet a man from Tibet who risked everything for the sake of an education. A Whangarei local takes a discussion on gender fluidity to the streets. I stand on that box in my white paint, and I just` I let people draw their own conclusions about what I am and my existence as part of their world. An artist from Chile draws a vivid portrait of a global crisis. The portrait is to show the sadness of what the kids been feeling and suffering in Syria. I mean, it's more like a general theme about kids, maybe, suffering in New Zealand as well. And a local woman who finds a shot of Ethiopian culture is a shortcut to making friends. Our coffee ceremony is the best time, cos I love to have a coffee with my friends. They respect my culture. Even if they've never been in Ethiopia, but, you know, from talking, they try to understand me. I'm Luke Bird, and this is my neighbourhood. (UPBEAT MUSIC) I was bullied heaps at school for being the chubby kid or for being a little bit colourful, I guess. I remember being bullied so much by the same kid that one day I just had enough, and I threw a chair at him, for which I got suspended. I didn't know I was gay back then, but I did have feminine traits that a lot of people felt made it obvious. I just thought I was being myself and 'you're nothing different'. But, really, being myself was just fine. I think it's interesting to talk about where people grow up, because where we identify growing up is a place where we most develop our identity, and I have more than one location for that. So although I was born in Washington state, I was raised in, um, small, very Christian environment schools, and then when I was 18, I moved to British Colombia, and that was my first big exposure to the secular world and making friends outside the context of church and private schools, so that's, sort of, where I first developed a... a sense of political identity and a sense of, um,... where I fit into the world, not handed to me by my parents. So I use the term genderqueer, and that's probably an umbrella term under the nonbinary gender labels. I probably do have some fluidity, although I notice more and more often that my expression is more androgynous and in the middle. It sometimes will swing more feminine or more masculine. There's a variety of different ways that I express myself artistically. Comedy is my newest avenue in terms of, like, doing a stand-up sort of thing. Tonight I'm gonna be doing a trial run of about eight minutes of comedy, genderqueer comedy. I try to take every opportunity to perform that I can, because I know that things only really get good if I perform them in front of people. I love living in Whangarei. It's a lovely place. I love being the only genderqueer in a 200km radius. (LAUGHTER) It's kinda like being in the '90s. I didn't use to perform about my gender and sexuality at all. A-And there's some fear, I think, of being labelled and categorised as a queer theatre performer. But I also realised that I had a unique story and that I was in a unique position to tell it. And I didn't see a whole lot of other people around me telling it. So if I didn't tell it, if I didn't get the information out there and the stories out there, then who was gonna do it? We all wanna relate to each other, and I happen to be a genderqueer, femsexual, kinky, poorly, pagan, ugly and intolerant vegan, so we gotta connect somewhere right? We had a meeting ` all the queers got together ` and we decided we're going to invent a new gender just to keep you on your toes. Punked you. People are so accustomed to watching things and laughing at things that only express their personal truth, and getting them to laugh at things that express someone else's, but maybe their viewpoint of someone else's. No one wants to admit that they're awkward and uncomfortable. And think I do make people awkward and uncomfortable. Um, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I call myself an interdisciplinary artist. And I do the statueing, which is a great way to express something without it being my responsibility to explain anything. I stand on that box in my white paint, and I let myself appear androgynous, or as androgynous as I can manage, with my rainbow... sashes that suggest that I'm part of the LGBTQI movement, in addition to my hair and other things. And I just let people draw their own conclusions about what I am and my existence as part of their world. Prompts a lot of conversations with parents and children, because a live statue is something that children really enjoy, and also, um, seniors, older people, who may not know quite what's going on, but, hey, there's a statue there, and it gives them a moment of safety to pause and take in the information, and I think that it's really important that we have all these various ways of being witnessed in the world if we are a queer person, and in my case a genderqueer person, a nonbinary gender person. So it's been great, and I love living in Whangarei. It's a great town, and there's a lot of really great reasons to live here, and I don't think any of us gender minority, sexual minority people should be afraid to live anywhere in New Zealand, because the only way we change the social climate and the cultural climate is by being brave and being out and being seen and living where we wanna live. So that's where I think we need to go. (CALM MUSIC) My mom and my darling grandma are two of the most important people in my life. They are strong, staunch, powerful, loving and inspirational women. But I was terrified coming out to my mum. You know, being an only child ` or the oldest grandson ` I thought being gay would be disappointing somehow, and it took me two and a half hours to say three words ` I am gay. To which my mum responded with, 'Was that it? Anything new you'd like to tell me?' My grandma, who has since passed, said the same. She was strong in her faith, yet her response was, 'Jesus had 12 friends, and they were all men, 'and you can't tell me at the Last Supper they just broke bread.' Sharing a meal, or even a coffee ` thank you ` does have a way of bringing people together. (RELAXED MUSIC) My name's Adan Avera. But my actual name is Enquiyo Gato Avera. So Adan is my short name. And I'm from Ethiopia, born in Addis Ababa. I don't know even where's New Zealand. I was thinking, like, in Europe, uh, like England or Holland. So that kind of` near Zeeland. I never think New Zealand's this far` this much far. In Whangarei, where we are, there's not any Ethiopian. When I came, it was hundred persons, so different, and plus far away from family and friends. So it was very hard time. I met my husband in Dubai. He say he's from New Zealand. He was nice to be my husband, you know? He will follow my religion. My religion is very important for me, and he will accept my country, culture or everything, so he went to Ethiopia, like, couple of times. Some of these was when... introduce him to family after we married and was good time. He missed family, and he wants to come and, here, live in his country. So we come here, like, 2015. Here it's hard, and... Yeah, I feel lonely, and I miss my family. I miss not only family, it's` I miss everything. Um, I'm very far away. I proud of myself to be from Ethiopia, because we have very kind culture. We are very rich in culture and tradition. I'm speaking with my children in my language and show them my culture. Mummy, can I help you do coffee? Yeah, you will. You will help me lots. Cos you're gonna make coffee for your friends. You like it? Yeah, fantastic. Fantastic. Today I have some of my special friends coming, so I'm gonna make Ethiopian coffee in it's traditional way. This take me back home and remind me everything. In Ethiopia, it was, like, three times we make, like ` morning, lunch and dinner. Our coffee ceremony is the best time, because I love to have a coffee with my friends. I need to make sure clean, and when I roast it, it would be more smoky and nice smell and more oily. I'm so lucky because the people who I meet are very nice and my neighbour, and I have my old neighbours as well friend with me. They come every single night. They come to, you know, check me, I'm all right, it's OK. (LAUGHS) Give me hug. I'm so happy, and I'm so glad to these people, and they respect my culture. Even they no` They never been in Ethiopia, but, you know, from talking. They try to understand me. (INDISTINCT CONVERSATION, LAUGHTER) I enjoyed watching everything she did, and then the incense, and it just made us feel really relaxed, and we got to sit around and chat, and I'd kinda... like to go to Ethiopia. (LAUGHS) I've never been alone, especially like here. (LAUGHS) But I'm so lucky, you know? Still my friends, they treat me how I want. People in Whangarei, they are very kind. (INTROSPECTIVE MUSIC) This bible has been in our family for decades. I remember as a child thinking it was so big and scary that you couldn't touch it. It's full of birth certificates, christening notices, (LAUGHS) even locks of hair from our first haircut. READS: Luke, 1989. (LAUGHS) To me, this is really special. It's full of history, full of family goodness. And it's just the kind of legacy that you really want to pass on to the next generation. (INTROSPECTIVE MUSIC) You need colour to make people happy. You need art to make people happy. You don't need big shopping centres to make, you know` to make people happy. You need art. I'm from Chile, and I was born in a small town north of Santiago called Llay Llay. It was a pretty quiet, little town ` lots of inspiration around, like murals. I met my partner in Chile. She went for a student exchange, and she was living with my auntie. She say, 'I like`' You know, in a really, you know, rusty Spanish. She said, 'I like the` the Maori (LAUGHS)` the Maori Chilean guy.' And, yeah, she thought I looked like a Maori, so... (LAUGHS) So, yeah, that was... It was funny in the beginning, because I didn't know what Maoris` You know, what's a Maori? And then three years later, she say if I wanna come to New Zealand, you know, check it out, see if I wanna come for a visit, and see if I like it here, and... I like it. It's the best place, I guess. Hmm. The best place. (UPBEAT MUSIC) I've been doing street art now for nine years, and this started in Chile. Just started doing it because it was cool to go and paint trains and the adrenaline and all that. But then when` when you get to a certain point that you reach, it's a good level, and, yeah, I started doing it more serious. This piece if about an African girl. She used to be a slave somewhere in Africa, and... now she turn around her destiny, and now she's a model in the UK, so she inspired me to do a piece for her. (UPBEAT MUSIC) So I've been doing stuff like this for two and a half years as a full-time artist. Street art is something positive, rather than, you know, negative, because they see at the moment they've got a big problem as well, the council, with all the taggers, you know, a lot of tagging, so most of the time, you, sort of, are picked up and put in the same bag as those guys. But it's not the case. I'm not trying to do that kind of stuff. Because if I want to build up this big empire that I wanna build, I have to be more professional and, sort of, do it the right way. That's how you're gonna bring respect to your person as well ` doing it, like, legit. I was not liking the look of that wall for a very long time. and Rodrigo was doing some wonderful graffitis just a few blocks down, and I've watched him with his mates, and I walked up to him, and I said, 'Hey, man. How about this wall?' The portrait is to show the sadness of the` what the kid's been, you know, feeling and suffering in Syria. And, I mean, it's more like a general theme about kids maybe suffering in New Zealand as well. So if you look at this portrait, you definitely will see the kids are really sad, and I want to` people to feel that. I had nobody say anything negative about this at all. To my surprise, really. (LAUGHS) I thought there'd be somebody angry, especially with the Arabic lettering, which says love and peace, but you don't know what it means, and in our days where it's all fear based and we see ISIS flags and all that, I thought that might ring the alarm bell, but, no, it's been great. So, thanks, Whangarei. What do you like you like about the mural? I like the sadness and the beauty of that face, the girl, especially from far away. The further away you go, the more detail you see. Yes. And the closer you get, the more other things you get, and it` it's got a lot of the old-school graffiti aspect in it, and I like that. As well. And I think you really nailed that... and the diversity of it all. It's unique. I haven't seen one like that, so it's great. Yep. That's cool, eh? It's feedback. It's awesome. (INTROSPECTIVE MUSIC) Street art, it's just` I like the freedom that you have. Nobody put rules for you to be an artist, and that your work is out there for everybody to enjoy. There` There's no limits. It's` You don't need to be, you know, like, dress up or tidiest to go to a gallery. You go to the gallery in the street, and that's what street art is ` like dress-up free, open gallery for everybody to enjoy. Just doing my part to make this feel more like a beautiful town. (RELAXED MUSIC) When I was at high school, all I wanted to be was a chef, but in my final year, I was asked to be part of the school production, and this changed everything. It gave me a little bit of the taste of the limelight. # La donna e mobile. # Qual piuma al vento, # muta d'accento # e di pensiero. # Sempre un amabile, # leggiadro viso, # in pianto o in riso, # e menzognero. # La donna e mobile. # Qual piuma al vento, # muta d'accento # e di pensier! # E di pensier! # E di pensier! # Phew! Oh, bravo. Thank you. (CHUCKLES) These days, I get to work in musical theatre, opera, cabaret, MC events around the country and television. You know, I used to feel a little hemmed in by Whangarei ` a big bird in a small cage. But now I get to travel and fly anywhere I need to go for work, so I'm pretty lucky, but not everybody has the freedom to pursue their dreams, and sometimes the cost to do so is much higher than an airfare. (TIBETAN SINGING) (BIRDSONG) (RELAXED MUSIC) (SOMBRE MUSIC) (UPBEAT MUSIC) Can you recognise which one's me? (LAUGHS) That one. I like the old photos. We were very young, it looked like, compared to now. (LAUGHS) Thupthen then came, I think only about six months after Don had been working for me. They're both very, very practical people. They've been brought up in a place where there's no shops, you can't buy anything, everything was made. When they were growing up, completely self-sufficient community, cut off, really, from the rest of the world, and so there's a real can-do attitude. You know, it's, sort of, 'Yeah, we` How are we gonna do this? 'Well, we'll figure out a way.' They're quite spiritual people. Their happiness is from their culture and from their spiritual practices, and you can see it in their everyday approach to everything. (RELAXED MUSIC) New Zealand is just very peaceful. What I want, I can do here. And so I am living here, and... so it's my second homeland, like... (CHUCKLES) (RELAXED MUSIC) The LGBTI group Whangagay is going great guns, creating a safe and valued space for all age groups who are coming out for the first time, discovering their sexuality or who just want to meet new people. I kinda wish there was a group like that when I was growing up. (UPBEAT MUSIC) As far as the community as a whole accepting those of us who are gay, well, there's still a way to go, but we are certainly making it known that LGBTI is everywhere, and it's definitely alive and thumping in Whangarei. In the last few years, Whangarei has become a big cultural melting pot too. I've moved away, and I've come back, and it's great to see the diverse faces in my neighbourhood, and know that the Whangarei everyone loves when they get here hasn't changed ` relaxed, friendly, welcoming. Captions by Antony Vlug. www.able.co.nz Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2017