Our Work
Olly Kade is a fiercely passionate activist for both the environment, social justice and embracing +celebrating absurdity within the norms of society.
They have intentionally been involved in a number of projects that endeavour to start a conversation around a certain subject.
Breaking Good
Body paint on Lisa Mead
"I was incredibly grateful to be able to meet Lisa Mead and to then help her bring her story to life literally upon her body for the cover of her first book. It was an inspiration to see how someone can transform their adversity into their superpower."
The Ocean is in our hands
Collaboration w Blue Cradle
Popx Artist
From a chance meeting in December to 2020 to beginning application on the 11th of September 2021, and then to the finished product on the 11th of October 2021, this was a truly fantastic project to be apart of! Highlighting endemic species to bring awareness to the beauty of the oceans around us, so we can all work toward protecting one of our earths lungs.
Check out Blue Cradle here
The Nomadic Podcast
Designed and painted for
Alex Thomas -poet, coach and speaker
Alex and I met through my time managing XCHC over summer 2020-2021 and quickly developed a firm friendship with our shared value of raising awareness for mental health! The intial intention was to paint a mural in the city aligned with one of his spectacular poems, however it ended up developing into adorning the walls of his podcast studio, with the idea of a nomadic journey, of course feat. a ray, because it'd rarely be my art without some part of the ocean!
Mary Hush Collective
I began with an event we threw together relatively last minute after funding for a large arts event in Chch fell through! It may have been all our friends and creatives contributing, but it was truly spectacular. Four events later and this team is my second family, these wings have long been painted over, but they truly represented a change within me and I believe they were a marker for this event which is going to change how we present art, and how we fill our eves.
Greenlane Market, CHCH
Live finger painting
This was a pretty special event, introducing me to Natural Paint Co (who have since become regular supporters) and working a little closer in with markets, despite already being familiar with Green Lanes leads, me being my silly self, I ended up barefoot in a singlet wrist deep in paint choosing to forego traditional tools and instead show the public how to have some fun! I'm still a firm lover of finger painting as an actual art style, there is a freedom in it!
Queer Representation
Both self shot and collaborations w photographers
My relationship with both my gender identity and sexuality has been tumultuous to say the least, discovering non-binary was finally the release of a breath I'd been holding for a long time, and it's now been a process of untangling what that means -thankfully due to some fabulous talented photographer friends most notably Ingmar Wein, I was able to find a relationship in front of the camera to explore those boundaries and freedoms directly. Take back ownership of my body and build a relationship with it.
