Olivia Aroha Giles is a writer and contemporary artist, of Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Kuia, Te Whānau-a-Apanui, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Scottish and Irish descent, raised in 1960s Wainuiomata, who now lives in the cultural and creative renaissance hub of Ōtaki. She is the creative director for Dusky Productions, a Porirua-based boutique publishing house. She’s had a wide and varied career from farmhand to journalist, from ministerial support in the Beehive to creator of her own fairy gardens – all while being a mum and a wife. She is a graduate from Whitireia with a Bachelor of Applied Arts (Visual Arts and Design) and an Advanced Graduate Diploma in Creative Writing. All her creative work is inspired and supported by her amazing, large, close extended whānau and the occasional fever dream.
By Olivia