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 |
