Interview: creator Ruby Solly on her new book, The Artist

The Artist is Ruby Solly’s stunning new verse novel (published by Te Herengawaka University Press), which vividly and evocatively brings to life histories of our Southern iwi through the whakapapa of its characters and the rich world they and their ancestors call their tūrakawaewae – their place to stand, their place to sing. It is heavily rooted in a spiritual place that encompasses various times and realities and has a strong mythic quality. The book also illustrates in a deep way how legends and folklore tales have a fundamental importance to us in our present time in terms of understanding both ourselves and the world around us. As a novel, it is deeply evocative – cave art leaps from walls, pounamu birds sing, legends become reality, and history becomes the present. The book also uses Ruby’s own unique take on tarot within its creation and content.

Ruby Solly (Kāi Tahu, Waitaha, Kāti Māmoe) is a writer, musician and  taonga pūoro practitioner living in Pōneke. Ruby describes herself as someone who “writes things, sings things and plays things”. While true, it doesn’t take much work to discover that this description doesn’t quite capture the scale – or indeed success – of Solly’s projects, publications and accomplishments.

Ruby’s first poetry collection Tōku pāpā gained rave reviews and was longlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry. Other poetic works  have been published in The Spinoff, Landfall, Sport, Ōrongohau / Best New Zealand Poems 2019 and more.

Ruby’s musical achievements are equally impressive and include playing with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Whirimako Black, Trinity Roots and The New Zealand String Quartet. In 2020, Ruby released her fabulous debut album Pōneke. Amongst her many other musical projects, Ruby is a key member of the Tararua collective whose album Bird Like Men was released on Oro Records, again to ecstatic acclaim — it was described in Songlines Magazine as “totally mesmerising” and “truly magnificent”.

As if that wasn’t enough, Ruby is also  just about to complete a PhD in public health, focusing on the use of taonga pūoro in hauora Māori. So, when the opportunity to interview Ruby about The Artist and her creative practice arose, we jumped at it! We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to Ruby, for taking the time to answer our questions; for providing such an illuminating insight into her creative life, world and work; and also, for giving us permission to use snippets from tracks from her fabulous solo album and images of her artwork in the interview.

All music and art in this interview is used with kind permission and strictly copyrighted.

You can watch the video of our interview below or on our YouTube channel, and further below you will find links to some of Ruby’s creative works we have in the library collection. Enjoy!