Nina Mariette
The book
Expressing oneself through creativity can be an immensely challenging and satisfying experience. Nina Mariette, a survivor of childhood abuse, uses painting to make sense of her past, and tells her story with pictures and words in this book.
Some of the pictures are raw, primitive and gut-wrenching, immediately provoking a response. Others are more subtle, at first glance seemingly harmless depictions of home and childhood, but a closer look reveals a menacing presence. Nina Mariette describes her experience of painting and writing as 'a way of taking back some of my power and maybe, in the sharing, offering power to other women – another vision.'
Painting Myself In will be of interest to survivors of abuse, counsellors, health workers, art therapists and teachers. But any reader interested in reading about a courageous personal journey and the process of self-discovery will be impressed by this work.
The author
NINA MARIETTE was born in 1946 in Europe and came to New Zealand when she was six. She grew up in a small provincial town, the only child in her class born outside of New Zealand. As an adult she battled with alcohol and drugs trying to escape the memories of her childhood abuse. Finally she found painting and writing as 'a powerful way of recognising my childhood abuse, of naming it, and of owning it in a way nothing else has come close to'.
Publication details
Paperback, 215 x 150 mm, 88 pages, ISBN 1 877133 16 7, $19.95
1997
Out of print