Wellington public servant switches briefcase for brushes in bold new art exhibition

Mervin Singham with one of his works. Photo / NZME

With bold colour and at times disturbing imagery, a Wellington public servant is using his art to inspire people to look within themselves and find their own light and resilience.

Mervin Singham, the chief executive of the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, is launching his exhibition, Reverence, at Wellington's Exhibitions Gallery of Fine Arts this evening.

"It's about my deep respect for our humanity," Singham told the Herald.

"When you think about the world we're living in everything feels like it's on a precipice – Covid-19, the war in Ukraine, cost of living - it's easy to look inside and see darkness. When you look inside, our humanity, we have a propensity for kindness, compassion, care for others that is far greater than all the bad and our humanity will prevail."

Reunion (right) and Laundry Day (left) by Mervin Singham. Photo / Supplied

His works appear almost backlit, like stained glass – which Singham says represents the way hope can shine through in humanity's darkest hours.

Born in Malaysia and raised in New Zealand, Singham says his upbringing has coloured his art significantly.

"I learnt that the very experiences that scar or haunt us, also heal and make us whole. We are taught many things that are not right. Nothing is only good. Good and bad co-exist, as does dark and light. One has no meaning without the other."

Singham shows this in his art by rebelling against the traditional symbolism of colour.

"People say when you paint dark things you use dark colours and with happy things you paint bright colours. I sometimes do the opposite because life is complex. In light moments there can be darkness."

The Bird Catcher. Photo / NZME

His work with the Royal Inquiry into Abuse in State Care has also inspired his work. Singham told the Herald that although the people he heard from were hurt and damaged by their experiences, he saw their compassion and kindness shining through.

"That's inspired a lot of my work. Same with the Ministry for Ethnic communities – we work with so many communities that work tirelessly, altruistically for the good of others with very little gain for themselves, they just want to make things better - all these things make me feel we have goodness in ourselves we need to talk about much more than we do."

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He says his ethnicity is a sense of pride for him, and it brings him great joy to give representation to other ethnic artists.

"It's so important that diverse artists, people from ethnic backgrounds like myself can come forward and put their cultural expression out there, because that enriches their own lives and more importantly it enriches New Zealand."

He wants to be a role model for other artists, and hopes that by seeing his work they can know they are capable too.

• Reverence opens tonight, and will run through until September 3.