I have a wall-hanging in my office – it’s Colombian naïve art – a style I’ve always loved. I like to think that Beyond the Rimu Grove is, in a way, akin to this – an unassuming narrative with complexity embroidered into the fabric.
My aim was to capture the world of the sixties through the eyes of nineteen-year-old Ellen Rose McTavish. Of course, it was impossible to avoid looking in from the outside, with the wisdom of age and knowledge of the world fifty years on. Through the voices of people around her, other perspectives – sometimes prescient – are revealed and reflected in Ellie’s coming of age.
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