The youngest of two, Kira was born in Wellington to Kim (Mum), who is a writer, property investor and an ex-professional speaker, and Jon (Dad), an IT specialist.
Kira went to a Montessori primary school, was put in the year ahead so that she could be with her best friend at the time.
“I remember that we used to pick a group of students and they would have to plan a meal, go to the supermarket nearby, buy the food, come back to class and make it so that everyone could eat. It was a lot of fun! I was very into hockey at this time, I won quite a few medals over the years.”
From Wellington to Africa
“In 2008 my parents decided that they wanted to live in Africa, so we packed up our bags and moved to the East African country of Uganda. We lived there for two years in the small town of Jinja. I had lots of different experiences - going to the markets for food, having to sleep with a mosquito net, the power cutting out randomly, eating different foods; chapati (sort of like roti) and rolex (a chapati with an omelette inside).”
“We were using different forms of transportation - boda-boda (a motorbike taxi) and Matatu (minivan taxi). I made some good friends, even a girl by the name of Kiira!.”
Kira was homeschooled while living in Africa.
“For some of the time there was only 3 pupils, me and two other girls. Our homeschool centre was a building that used to be a school (weirdly named Kiira-Kids!) and we were taught by a lovely woman by the name Vicky.”
“We played a lot of sport, like tennis and swimming, and did subjects like Science and English from imported workbooks. I remember one of my favourite subjects was Classics, and we used to have this super grainy grey paper that we would have draw our own lines on to write down our notes.”
“We grew our own pineapples once, but when we picked them, they were too small and were too sour to eat! I was also home-schooled by my mum at home for two hours each morning. She would teach me other subjects, mostly Maths, arty things, along with French.”
Kira decribes herself in these days as ‘very outgoing and loud’.
“We had a pet dog named Lotte who we got from the German couple we bought out car off of, she was very lovely. We also had a ginger cat who had an eye infection who we saved off the side of the road. She was a wild cat, so she wasn’t exactly friendly, she would attack my legs for no reason and then run off again, but I’m glad we rescued her.”
A move to England
“In 2010 we moved to England, Blackpool, to be nearer to my parent’s families. There I finished primary and started Highschool.”
“England is very different from Uganda, and it definitely made me shyer. From a class of three to a class of thirty is a big leap.”
“ But I still had fun there, going to things like Madame Tussauds, Blackpool Illuminations, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Blackpool Tower and the Tower Dungeon.”
“My brother went to an international private school that was an hour’s drive so I would have to drive all the way up to his school before coming back down to go to mine." In high school I remember being very good at maths and enjoying drama because the teacher was wacky and made the lessons fun. I took up rock climbing as a hobby. It was a pretty good work out and I even managed to achieve level 1, 2, and 3 in NICAS.”
Back home to New Zealand
In 2013 Kira and her family moved back to New Zealand.
“Here I finished Intermediate, started high school, met up with some of my old friends and made some new ones, and then went on to college.”
“It was really in Intermediate, when I met a really good friend of mine who introduced me into drawing, that art really became dominant in my life. I had drawn before but never that much and certainly not every day in a row after school.”
“I had a couple of different hobbies, trampolining and horse riding, specifically, which I enjoyed, that gave me a sort of variety to my life in high school.”
Animation
From College Kira went on to study animation at then-Animation College now-Yoobee College. This course was for two years.
“I enjoyed this type of study, I mean drawing every day was what I did already so how was this any different?”
“Now that I’ve graduated, I’m back down in Paraparaumu as a freelance illustrator and animator. I have just finished a contract for an animated Maori TV show called ‘Tamariki Haka’ which I enjoyed working on immensely and am looking forward to it be released on the TV.”
“Outside of work I like to go to the gym to stay fit and play video games! “
“In the future, I’m really looking forward to a career in illustration. I hope that whatever happens is fun and I’ve got good friends besides me to share it with!”
Ends
Some examples of Kira’s illustrations.
