What was your greatest holiday?
It was a working holiday - I was awarded a scholarship to attend the Attingham Summer School in England and to make the most of this trip I started in Venice; I still remember seeing the city floating on top of the water. It's like a mirage - my brain couldn't comprehend what I was seeing. Everything was old and beautiful, and people just live without being precious, the history of the city is part of everyday life. I met up with friends and we bumped our way around the Biennale. What topped it off is that I met a Venetian-New Zealander who took me down secret alleys to hidden restaurants, basking in that deep golden light. From here I went to England, to stay in a beautiful old house, West Dean, formally owned by surrealist art patron Edward James. The house was full of medieval art, lip couches and a lobster telephone! I spent the next three weeks travelling with 40 curators from around the globe to numerous stately homes around the English countryside. Then I went to see one of my best friends in Los Angeles. We spent days visiting modern and post-modern architecture and museums. On my last morning in LA, I had Mexican food for breakfast and then spent the afternoon lying inside a James Turrell capsule - perfection.
And the worst?
The worst part of a holiday is being in transit. Airports are strange places, some sort of purgatory, where you can't leave, can't go outside, and you have to eat whatever food is available. It's a test of endurance. I have a vivid memory where I was in the Amsterdam airport of running as fast as I could trying to make a connecting flight, in an impossibly short amount of time. As I was rounding the bend to my counter, a guard was pulling the gate shut. Pleading, I was just let through.
If we bump into you on holiday, what are you most likely to be doing?
You will probably see me looking at a small detail of something. I am a keen observer of textures, and details. On the beach, I will be sorting a small pile of rocks and shells into various taxonomies; or in a museum I will be looking at sculpture plinths or watching the light.
If we could teleport you to one place in New Zealand for a holiday, where would it be?
I'm imagining it now. I'm sitting in a wild bay, which is covered in pebbles and driftwood, with the sun beating down. I wouldn't need much, just a small picnic basket and a warm jacket. I have never been to Fiordland National Park and I'm sure I could find a bay like this in there.
How about for a dream holiday internationally?
A number of friends have been to Japan recently, I would really like to go there too. I would go and visit ancient gardens as well as explore the city. My idea of a dream holiday is just to go wandering and look at things, eat food where you find it and not to worry about having to do everything on my list.
