Samantha Andrew

Samantha Andrew is a Christchurch-based aspiring artist who currently attends Cashmere High School. She aims to participate in every art event possible as a way to spread messages of awareness and feelings which are complicated to understand.

"I've been incorporating self-portraits of myself in a surreal style to give a stronger message about my personality and feelings. I want my art to communicate to viewers that even throughout struggles you'll still be you. Art was something I always stuck to no matter what was happening in my life. Now as a teenager I try and incorporate the things which keep me inspired and happy, especially now as I've been struggling heavily with my mental health.

My most recent art is about this feeling of a loss of culture and a loneliness within crowded spaces. I want my viewers to feel and understand that times have changed and what we value the most has altered over time. What is considered a normal lifestyle now is still a very new and recent state of being for most people. The message I want to communicate is that it's important to live a life with leisure and balance, for the betterment of you and others around you. A lot of the art which I create is centred around Japanese culture and Japan as a country. This interest began when I started studying Japanese language in year 9 and fell in love with it. The more I learn not only about the language but about the culture and the way society is the more I feel influenced by it. Although it is something I will never be able to understand first hand I try and explore different topics and ideas surrounding Japan from differing perspectives in my art. 

My favourite artist and the biggest influence to me is Kushana Bush. Not only is she a New Zealand artist but her paintings typically blend historic and contemporary styles which is something I love to experiment with in my works."