Almost a year ago now, I wrote a blog about calendars – why I make them, how I started, and why I started again. Hard to believe another one’s been done – and this time, they’re public.

Nga Marama o Te Tau (Months of The Year) 2015 was a hard slog this time. Although I hadn’t planned on it, last year was a busy one. Amidst the illustrating, I was doing some free-lance (emphasis on free) design work for some friends, we carried on with house renovations, and I got a new job (which I really love). Hemi was patient as life carried on at high speed. The calendar got done eventually – much later than I’d planned for, but I’m proud of it, and it was worthwhile. I think Hemi and his crew have never looked better – and I’m getting to know them pretty well now, after having had such a long hiatus where we fell out of touch.

Times like the ringing in of the new year lend themselves to reflection. We look back on what we’ve achieved, plan to catch up on the things we didn’t get around to, and think about the people we miss. Some of them have simply fallen out of touch. Others, we have lost.

This year, when i was packaging up calendars for the whanau (family), it hit me. I was only packaging up two for “the aunties” because now, Nan is one of only three of our precious kuia left – but we’d never have considered that this time last year. Aunty Matty and Aunty Dolly passed away within weeks of each other, leaving us only enough time to say our goodbyes – it left many of us in shock, and a family reeling.

Our beloved Gisborne aunties are treasured memories for us all. One day, those of us lucky enough to keep ringing in the new year, will ourselves, become the elders in our tribe. Like the changing of the seasons, the family tree sheds it leaves, as new branches keep growing. It’s something I’ve been thinking about this week as we reflect on those who have passed…

We must be present always for our family and friends and never find ourselves too busy to love them, listen to them, and learn from them. When they are gone, we should be prepared to keep the home fires burning – and nothing, should ever have been left unsaid. Happy New Year whanau.

– Kereama

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Hemi was a just ten-year old school boy when I started drawing him 14 years ago. His family and friends came with him – and over time, that family grew. The strips I wrote about Hemi at his family reunion are some of my favourites from the old stories. I could relate to big whanau (family) reunions on the marae. Hundreds of people you didn’t necessarily know too well, but were related to, sharing stories, music and food.

The drawings back then were much simpler. They had to be. It was a real challenge to fit a story into just four small squares using only a ballpoint pen and some photocopy paper (I was a poor University student, and most of us didn’t have our own computers back then), and unlike now, where I’ll make a toon as long as it needs to be, I really was limited to only four panels.

It’s one of the reasons I don’t share a lot of the old material despite there being literally hundreds of strips all stored neatly in an archive. Some of the drawings are essentially scribbles, and some of the jokes have had their time. But some of them still make me laugh, and I’ll share them eventually in either their original form, or fit them to the updated characters for new stories. The family reunions without doubt will have their day again. Apart from enjoying the humour that comes with telling them, I also really like Hemi’s cousins.

My cousin Alison once said she thought of my sisters and I as her own siblings not just her cousins, and whenever Brian and I are in the same room, you can guarantee one Aunty-or-another will stand us next to each other to take a photo because we look so much alike. We have a lot in common too, but difference or similarity becomes irrelevant among your cuzzies, you’re family.

I’ve just finished updating Hemi’s cousins to reflect their ’13-years-older’ selves. Making the call to do it as a line drawing turned out to be more work than if I’d just coloured them, but I think it helped me ‘re-unite’ with the characters much better. When you cant rely on shading or colour to give them personality, expression becomes everything and you focus on the face. I drew the twins four times before I felt they looked right.

There’s Max, Hemi’s doppleganger only without the long hair (surely everyone has a cousin that could very well be mistaken for their sibling or even their twin?) then the baby – all grown up. In the original strips he was called Bubs, but for a 13-year-old boy, I don’t think that’s really very fair. I don’t know his name yet, so I’ll stick with ‘Boy‘ for now. When you’re at the Marae, you tend to get called ‘boy’ a lot by anyone and everyone who doesn’t know your name.

Hemi’s cousin Emma is named after my own cousin, who in turn is named after our grandmother, plus it was a name I liked. So were Damian and Rewi, her twin brothers. On Hemi’s dad’s side of the family there’s Eruera, a towering giant who works in forestry, and his firey sister Lizzie who’s no-nonsense approach at times leaves a trail of brusied eyes and egos in her wake. Eruera and Lizzie never appeared in the original strips, though they were in other artwork I produced. I had started writing a reunion for Hemi’s dad’s side of the family, but it never got to the drawing stage.

Still – there’s always time aye? Hemi’s got a huge whanau it could take me years to tell all their stories, but then, that’s what the years are for. When my own family get together, that’s what we do. We tell stories. Most of my own cousins live far away from me, but when we get together and we tell stories, it’s amazing to find out just how much we have in common.

When you’re connected by family, there’s nothing more important in the world, and that’s why it’s always a central theme running through the work I do with Hemi. I like to think that’s what he stands for.

…And that’s why a reunion is always something to look forward to.

Kereama

When the stars of a New Zealand “reality” television show (of questionable merit) used the term “Aunty” to label a ‘single woman’ (in a way that’s frankly misogynistic and disrespectful) I took exception. Thankfully I wasn’t alone.

Why? Because those of us with “Aunties” know who aunties really are. They are literally the sisters, friends, cousins and second-cousins of our parents and our grandparents  – and when we talk about our “Aunties”, these are the women we mean:

We mean the loving, yet formidable women who command respect – and they’ve earned it too. Through all of their good times and their bad, their triumphs and their struggles, we have gained – as a family – a sense of identity and belonging because we share a rich history with them. My Nan had seven sisters (Aunty Betty too). These staunch, sometimes stubborn, but awe-inspiring women are the matriarchs and the backbone of our family. One running joke is that you never mess with “the Aunties” because they outlived their brothers and their husbands too! “Watch out Cuz, here comes the Bella-Mafia!”

But like the rest of us they’re human, and some of my Aunties aren’t very well right now and they’re forefront in my thoughts.The Aunties for me, have been the ones I sometimes hid from (they could be scary), or I ran to for a hug and a kiss (they could make everything better). All of them have a sharp wit and a quiet dignity that keeps us on our toes. On those increasingly rare but special occasions, I still wander into Nan’s kitchen to put the kettle on and hear them at the table, playing cards and speaking in Maori to one another. Sometimes I tell them, “I know when you’re talking about me”, which is met with cheeky giggles and ‘Bring the biscuits over with you dear’.

So, thinking of my Aunties, and my Nan – I haven’t brought the biscuits, but I made a drawing. Hemi’s boys (Tahi, Rua and Hemi Jr.) brought you some flowers too. I know how much you like those.
Arohanui Aunties – I’ll put the kettle on.

Kereama