A famed street artist is spreading hope in a new project after his own mental health struggles.
Graham Hoete, aka Mr G, is collaborating with rangatahi (young people) in small towns throughout New Zealand to talk about mental health.
Having already completed murals in both Tūrangi and Opotiki, Hoete hopes to take his Tūmanako project nationwide.
The project birthed from his own mental health struggle, when seven years ago Hoete and his wife moved to Sydney.
There, Hoete told Breakfast on Friday that he "didn't know how to deal with emotional internal issues" and went through a suicidal point in his life.
His wife had also been through depression herself.
"She really helped me through that, having gone through depression herself," Hoete said.
"Now, in regards to the Tūmanako project, I was in that place when I went through that dark place that's when I actually discovered the true power of hope and how powerful it is for these human hearts. It's a universal need, every person in this world needs hope."
Hoete said also going through his own struggles he was able to acquire empathy and compassion - which is helping with this project.
"I think it's important that the young people we work with, they feel the heart behind the mahi (work), that it's genuine, we're not just doing this as a job or all that sort of thing, that we really care about their hauora (health)," he said.
"The reason why we want to target our rangatahi in our small towns is because we identify with them and we feel that's really important," Hoete said, adding both he and his wife grew up in small towns in Aotearoa.
The project is about painting themes of hope that connect to those area, including histories from iwi.
"We actually brainstorm with the rangatahi too in each town and we ask them 'what's hope to you?' and then we actually outwork those messages through the artwork as well so it's 100 per cent collaborative with the kaumātua (adults/elderly) of each area, but also rangatahi, so it's a beautiful blend of collaboration.
"It's a privilege for my wife and I to be in those spaces, to learn those histories and to reinterpret them with the rangatahi thorough mahi toi (art)."
SHARE ME