Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, Nelson artist Pierre O’Rourke is breaking out of the crushing events of his earlier life to bring colour and joy into the world with his vibrant, life-enhancing art.
Words: Adrienne Matthews
The backdrop of his life is not one he wants to dwell on but the miracle in his transformation can only be seen by knowing something of his past. “I had a traumatic childhood,” he says. “There was abandonment and abuse and I spent a lot of time in foster care. I could draw anything though. My dad was an artist and I wanted to be one too. I was alone much of the time so I hid in my own world of images and colours. It was a place where I could be my true self.”
Years of self-abuse complicated by alcohol and drugs followed until Pierre found his feet in the world, becoming a civil engineer. “I moved to Australia to chase my career. I was doing the family thing, bringing in the wages and being a father until my ex-partner moved back to New Zealand with our children. I came back in 2019 and was taking a few weeks to get my life in order when I was mugged. I woke up in a plastic-surgery ward up north with my jaw split down the middle, quickly realising that life was never going to be the same again. With no help from ACC or anywhere else, all my savings were quickly gone, along with my children who I was too ill to care for. The only thing I seemed able to do was take up my pencil and start to make art again.”
Pierre’s car became his home. With PTSD from his injury and his dad having just died and no petrol to go anywhere, he sat in his car for three days doing art. “Miraculously some good people rescued me and I was introduced to my amazing support worker, Faye Vickers, from the Salvation Army in Nelson,” he says. “I was found a motel room to live in and from that time I began to do a lot of soul-searching and healing.”
Pierre is not bitter about his experiences. “I realised that before being beaten up I was playing a role people expected me to play,” he says. “I thought the world was about money and getting stuff but when I lost everything and all I was left with was myself, I realised that those things weren’t my passion and that my true calling was art. I know exactly who I am now. The experience was serendipitous. I am sure that without the injury I would have come back to art at some stage but it wouldn’t have been truly from my heart.”
Through Faye Vickers, Pierre was introduced to Stephen Broad-Paul, the creative careers adviser at the Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce, Art/Work programme. Stephen is managing a two-year pilot scheme funded by the Ministry of Social development to support creative people in Nelson to build their confidence and help them commercialise their art form. “Faye encouraged Pierre to apply and at my first meeting with him I got a real sense of his depth and his ambition to make a difference through his artwork and leave a legacy for his family,” says Stephen.
“The legacy I want to leave them is one of pride and a sense of achievement,” says Pierre. “It’s not about money but about what you can achieve if you have a belief in yourself.”
Each month at the Mahitahi Collab based in Building A at NMIT there is an exhibition of an artist’s work under the scheme and Pierre is the second artist to be chosen. “As I was hanging the paintings I was blown away by the power of them to make people smile,” says Stephen. “Initially they are drawn in by the colour and then they find their own meaning in them. I believe that is what great art is about.”
“This is where my art journey really starts,” says Pierre. “To have the support of someone who believes in me and understands that this needs to be my life’s work is incredible. The art you see here comes originally from trauma. It comes from heartbreak, good times, bad times, let downs, but I have let go of all that which is why what you see here is full of light and colour.”
Pierre met his father, Simon O’Rourke, for the first time while in his thirties and credits him for his artistic side. “Dad was the worst father but the most honest human,” he says. “He took responsibility for what he had been and I respected him for that.”
“I have been blessed since my injury to have some very good people in my life, like my best friend Manuell Strange who picked me up off the streets and really owns the key to me still being here,” says Pierre.
Murray Leaning from Mitre 10 Mega gets a special mention too. “I was desperate for help when I was preparing for my exhibition and approached many firms who I bought goods from to see if I could get some support. I had all but given up when Murray got back to me and, under the Mitre 10 Mega Helping Hands programme, gifted me materials to use in my work. It was a huge boost which I will never forget.”
“Mark French from the Tahunanui Community Hub made sure I had food and clothes for my children when things were really tough and I am thankful too for the motel managers where I live, Belinda and Pete.”
Pierre is determined to spread the word that art can be great therapy for anyone. “Words don’t come easily to some people but shapes and colours can,” he says. “Everyone needs someone or something to reflect back to them how special and unique they are and art can do that. The world is much bigger and more open than many of us allow ourselves to feel and it is so beneficial for us to express ourselves through creativity. I hope that I can inspire many more people to experiment this way and find their true selves.”
He paints from the images and colours he sees in his head. “I close my eyes and see this whole world of possibilities for paintings,” he says. “It’s an amazing place to be. I’m not following trends or doing what I think might be in vogue. I let it come naturally.”
Meanwhile Stephen is appreciating every minute he spends with Pierre. “I am mentoring him,” he says, “but in many ways he is mentoring me right back. He came to me for support but is teaching me too. I see so many creative people trying to make it on their own,” he continues, “but we all need someone at some time. The true meaning of life, I believe, is being there for each other.”
There is no doubt that Pierre’s children, Joseph aged five, Jaxson, seven, Aria-Rose, nine and Moana-Rose, twenty-two will benefit enormously from the commitment he has made to his art and the enormous gift of love, exuberance and self-awareness that extends from it. “You can’t put out artwork with feeling if you don’t have feelings,” he says and his experiences, however bad, have gifted him a wealth of feelings to draw from.
“Albert Einstein is quoted with the saying ‘A ship is always safe at shore but that is not what it is built for’, says Pierre. “That thought inspires me to keep moving out of my comfort-zone so my creativity can bloom and hopefully bring positivity to those who come across it.”
