Taylor made

Art is a way of life for many and it comes in many forms. Whether it's words, pictures or acting Apirana Taylor tells a story and starts with a bit of background on how it all began for him. He talks to EMMA GOODWIN.

For most people waking up from a hard night on the booze at a Palmerston North pub usually means reaching for the painkillers. But for Apirana Taylor another night on the turps resulted in a life-changing realisation and the start of an artistic journey.

"It was when I was in Palmy during the 70s supposedly studying for a BA at Massey but it was more like I was getting a degree in beer drinking at The Fitz."

A young Taylor woke up one morning in his bed in C hostel with a raging headache and turned on the TV to see Alistair Campbell reading poetry.

"It sparked something in me and I knew that was what I wanted to do so I literally locked myself away for a month to write my first poem."

A few weeks later Taylor emerged from a paper strewn room with his first completed poem in the bag.

"It was only about four lines long but by then I had got the bug and opted out of uni."

In town as the guest poet for the City Library's Stand Up poetry evening, poet and story teller Taylor sits in the library cafe sipping a cinnamon-coated cappuccino as he divulges how his life changed tack.

"From that point on I worked just so I could write. It was easy to get jobs in those days so work was a means to an end. I started with poetry, went on to writing stories and then started acting and writing plays."

Taylor and his brother, Rangimoana Taylor, started a Maori theatre co-op in Wellington that was to be a creche for some of New Zealand's finest thespian talent, including Rena Owen and Rewia Brown who, alongside Alan Duff, wrote the film script for Once Were Warriors.

The co-op wasn't just for actors. Aspiring directors, writers and producers also joined the ranks and over 100 individuals passed through the doors. "There was a growing number of talented Maori who wanted to learn. My brother had learned his craft in Wellington and then went overseas. When he came back he wanted to pass on what he knew."

While Taylor may have helped nurture some exceptional local talent he himself was taken under the wing of several respected names in his fledgling years.

"I spent some time hanging out with some people in a writing forum that worked out of a room in Cuba St Wellington. It was full of young Maori artists."

Those "young Maori" included the likes of Keri Hulme and their mentors were Witi Ihimaera and Patricia Grace.

"I used to give Witi a hard time and I now look back and cringe at some of the things I used to say. They had so much patience with me and looked after me. I was a nightmare as a youngster."

Taylor's artistic talent extends past his writing skills to painting, acting and music and he moves seamlessly from one discipline to the other when the mood takes him.

He describes himself as a storyteller and uses his repertoire of talent to tell the tale of the moment.

"I started off as a writer but I wanted to keep growing and do it all because I love it."

If he is writing and gets a block, he puts down the pen and picks up a brush.

"Painting works a different part of my brain and it helps me get my head in the right space for writing. Painting is more primitive. After all we were painting long before we were writing weren't we?"

While painting may be Taylor's way of breaking free his artistic side it is his writing that first took him overseas.

"A Swedish professor interviewed me for a book many years ago and it came to the attention of a few people in Sweden who asked me to do a European tour.

"It was brilliant.

"I did three months eating in the best restaurants and drinking great wine. I fell in love with Italy and have been back since.

"It's a little ironic that sometimes here in New Zealand I have to scrounge the bus fare together to get from Paekakariki to Wellington and then I'm travelling around Europe like that."

Taylor has a reputation for tackling very poignant issues in his writing such as war and depression and issues that are specifically Maori. His work is also taught in schools at NCEA level and at tertiary institutions.

Always seeing ways of expressing himself artistically Taylor has been writing a lot of poems and doing a lot of painting recently and is looking to start a novel shortly.

- © Fairfax NZ News