Saturday 29 December 2018

Road to PhD Part 1: 2017

In April 2017 I enrolled in a PhD in Art & Design at AUT, but the road to actually beginning was long - it took most of the year to find suitable supervisors and write the proposal (PGR2). However, once the proposal was submitted in October it was accepted within two weeks, with an official start date of January 2018. Two main events contributed to formulating directions for the research project: the 3rd Asia and Oceania Regional IBBY Meeting in Thailand, and the Storylines National Children's Writers and Illustrators' Hui 2017, which led to me writing a well-received article for The Sapling.


Copyright 2017 Zak Waipara. Bangkok road, presentation

Copyright 2017 Zak Waipara. Sapling article, Hui illustration.


In addition, I undertook a number of activities and creative projects that occurred in the intersection of comics, children’s books and indigenous storytelling, which also fed into my PhD journey. These include: a Maui comic book for the Auckland City Council Book Bus, a Storylines Notable Book Award for  the Maui - Sun Catcher book, a writing and drawing workshop for Auckland Writer's Festival, the Chromacon Indie Arts Festival, a Auckland City Council Matariki Story event, the Storylines South Auckland Tour, moderating an Auckland Library Comic Panel talk, an Auckland Game Dev Meetup panel on indigenous voices, and an animation for Te Papa Tongarewa on Rongowhakaata’s first encounters with Captain Cook.


Copyright 2017/2016: Photo - Storylines, Book - Oratia

Copyright 2017: Photo - Chromacon, Comic- Zak Waipara

Copyright Zak Waipara 2017

Copyright 2017 Storylines

Copyright 2017 Zak Waipara

Copyright 2017 Auckland City Council
Copyright 2017 Auckland Game Dev

Copyright 2017 M. Mulipola, L. Chen, S. Orchard, Z. Waipara

Copyright 2017 Zak Waipara