Tania has been very lucky to be asked to be have her portrait painted by talented former employee Stephanie Brown www.stephaniebrown.com.au. 'Steph' worked as Production Manager for Niwa Photography a couple of years ago, until she became a full time professional artist. Steph has chosen to portray Tania's important New Zealand Maori ancestry. You can see Tania's Tribe's sacred Maori Meeting House called "Owae Marae", sitting before the rise of Mount Taranaki and spiritual representations of her Grandmother Miriama Niwa who died when Tania's dad was 9yrs old. Directly below her you can also see Tania's Great Great Great Grandfather Te Porikapa, a warrior scout for the pacifist Taranaki Tribe. Te Porikapa had a full facial tribal moko (tattoo).
Tania said she is deeply moved by what Steph has achieved in her portrait. "It has taken me a while to get used to seeing myself larger than life and with an intense gaze but I am also very humbled that Steph wanted to paint me as being someone who has influenced her. Seeing myself in this painting has been a very confronting and maturing experience but has brought home to me the central importance of heritage and place in my own life. What Steph has encapsulated really does reveal who I am and where I am from."
Steph set out to create a dark, dramatic and intense portrait of Tania. The artist commented that it is always a shock in the beginning to be confronted by oneself. Steph explained, "The painting is about being away from New Zealand but still being connected to culture and family. It's those moments of reflection we remember with a slight ebb of melancholy, pride and longing. New Zealand has a moody, dramatic undercurrent that can cut right through you and I've intensified the drama in your eyes and forehead and find the culture within and around you." Narrabeen based ,Steph is originally from Matamata in the Waikato of NZ.
