As we prepare to welcome a new mural into the village, we thought we'd take the opportunity to introduce you to the celebrated New Zealand artist bringing this to life: FLOX.
Known for her vibrant artworks of native birds and botanicals, FLOX will soon bring her distinctive style to the village with a large-scale public artwork shaped in part by our local community.
Known for her vibrant artworks of native birds and botanicals, FLOX will soon bring her distinctive style to the village with a large-scale public artwork shaped in part by our local community.
We are delighted that this project has already sparked so much excitement across St Heliers Village. Our community has been invited to vote on the native flora and fauna they would love to see included in the mural, local businesses are helping behind the scenes, and we are so excited to welcome two local teens to assist FLOX as the mural comes to life.
It is a wonderful moment for St Heliers, bringing together art, community, local voices and the shared excitement of creating something lasting for the village.
It is a wonderful moment for St Heliers, bringing together art, community, local voices and the shared excitement of creating something lasting for the village.
We spoke with FLOX about her work, the creative process behind public art, and what it means to create a mural shaped by the people and place around it. We can't wait for you to get a glimpse inside her creative mind!
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your work?
I’m FLOX, an Auckland-based artist and I’ve been working professionally for over 20 years now. I’m probably best known for my stencil-based work — highly layered, colourful compositions featuring native birds, botanicals and the natural world.
My practice has grown enormously over those years, from my early roots in printmaking and street art through to large-scale murals, exhibitions, collaborations, products and projects both here in Aotearoa and internationally. I feel incredibly lucky that art has taken me to so many places, but at the heart of everything is still my love of making, colour, nature and telling stories through imagery.
Your work has such a distinctive visual language. How would you describe the world you create through your art?
Colourful, abundant and a little bit fantastical!
I love creating these really lush, layered worlds where birds, flowers and foliage all weave together. They’re grounded in nature, but I’m definitely not trying to replicate nature exactly as it appears. I like to push colour, play with scale and bring elements together in ways that create their own little universe.
There’s also a sense of joy that I hope runs through my work. I want people to discover things within it — perhaps noticing one element from a distance and then finding all these smaller details when they get closer.
What excites you most about creating a mural for St Heliers?
I love creating public artwork that has a genuine relationship with the place it lives in, and St Heliers gives me so much to draw from. It has such a strong identity — the coastline, the village, the landscape and that wonderful relationship with the natural environment.
I’m also really enjoying the community aspect of this project. The fact that locals are already voting and having their say means there’s a connection to the mural before I’ve even started painting it. I think that makes the finished piece feel much more like it belongs to St Heliers rather than simply being a FLOX artwork placed there.
When you begin a public mural like this, where does the creative process usually start?
It starts with listening and looking.
Before I design anything, I want to understand the environment the mural is going to live in — the people, the architecture, the history, the natural surroundings and how that particular space is used.
From there, I start gathering references and thinking about the elements that could tell that story visually. Then comes composition, colour and the process of turning all those ideas into the individual stencil layers.
There’s actually an enormous amount of work that happens before I ever arrive at the wall with a spray can! That preparation is what allows me to be really confident once the physical painting begins.
Native flora and fauna are such a strong part of your work. What draws you to these elements, and why do you think people connect with them so deeply?
Nature has been the constant throughout my practice. Even after more than 20 years, I’m still fascinated by the stance of a bird, the shape of a leaf or an unexpected colour combination in a flower.
I think our native flora and fauna also hold a lot of emotion for us as New Zealanders. A tūī, kererū or pōhutukawa can immediately remind someone of home, a particular place, their childhood or even a person.
That’s what I love about using these elements in public work. They’re familiar enough that people can immediately find a connection, but I can reinterpret them through my own visual language and hopefully encourage people to look at them in a slightly different way.
I think our native flora and fauna also hold a lot of emotion for us as New Zealanders. A tūī, kererū or pōhutukawa can immediately remind someone of home, a particular place, their childhood or even a person.
That’s what I love about using these elements in public work. They’re familiar enough that people can immediately find a connection, but I can reinterpret them through my own visual language and hopefully encourage people to look at them in a slightly different way.
What do you hope locals and visitors feel when they come across the finished mural?
Joy, first and foremost. I want it to be uplifting.
But I’d also love there to be a sense of recognition and ownership for the local community — that feeling of, “this is ours.”
That’s one of the things I love most about public art. There are no gallery doors and no barriers to entry. Someone might deliberately come to see the mural, while someone else might simply walk past it on their way to get a coffee every morning. Over time, it becomes part of the visual memory of a place, and I think there’s something really special about that.
This mural is being brought to life with support from local businesses, the wider St Heliers community and Ōrākei Arts. What does that kind of collaboration mean to you?
It means a lot because public art really is a collective effort.
My name might be on the mural, but there are always so many people behind a project like this — the businesses who support it, the people who organise it, the community who engages with it and ultimately everyone who will live alongside the finished work.
I particularly love that the community has been invited into the process through the voting. It gives people a voice and creates a sense of ownership from the very beginning.
I also think there’s something really positive about local businesses choosing to invest in creativity. They’re not just supporting an artist; they’re contributing something to the shared environment that everybody gets to experience.
For young creatives or local artists watching the project unfold, what would you love them to take from it?
I’d love them to see that being a working artist is a real and achievable career, but also to understand everything that sits behind the finished piece.
I’ve been doing this for over 20 years, and I’m still learning, experimenting and pushing my practice. There’s a lot of hard work involved — research, drawing, problem-solving, planning and plenty of things that don’t work the first time!
Passing knowledge on has become increasingly important to me as I’ve progressed through my career. Whether that’s through workshops, working with schools or simply having young people see the process of a mural unfolding, I think visibility is really important.
My biggest message would probably be: find your own visual language. Be curious, put the hours in, experiment, make mistakes and don’t be afraid to do things your own way.
Is there anything you’d like to say to the St Heliers community as the mural begins to come to life?
A huge thank you for inviting me into your neighbourhood! I’m genuinely excited to see the results of the community vote and start bringing all of those ideas together. Thank you to everyone who has already taken the time to participate, to the local businesses supporting the project and to all the people working behind the scenes to make it happen.
One of my favourite parts of painting murals is actually being on site and meeting people as the artwork develops, so if you see me up there painting, definitely come and say kia ora.
I’m looking forward to creating something colourful, joyful and uniquely St Heliers — something that hopefully becomes part of the village for many years to come.
As the mural begins to take shape, it will be more than a new artwork in St Heliers. It will be a reflection of the people, place and natural beauty that make the village so special.
We look forward to seeing FLOX bring her colour, creativity and recognisable style to St Heliers, and to watching the community gather around a piece of public art that will be enjoyed for years to come.