Strong Voices

Michael Trubovich is one of those people who draw their energy and inspiration from others. He loves to talk.

Getting out to meet people isn’t always easy though, and some of his flatmates aren’t quite as chatty as him, but he’s been able to find new friends and interests online through IHC Media.

Michael lives in a residential facility on the Kāpiti Coast and has regularly joined the live Zoom sessions on IHC Media in the past two years. Now he has friends in Canterbury, Auckland, Bay of Plenty and the Deep South.

He often joins in with Jolt Dance, Drumming with Chewy and Move with Bex and especially loves Tu Meke Reo time. Michael’s kapa haka roopu, Ngā Pou o Porirua, performed at the recent IDEA Services kapa haka festival and he got to meet Governor General Dame Cindy Kiro.

But it’s Thursday morning’s Draw with Lindsey sessions that he’s really passionate about, always gathering his art supplies together so he’s ready to go at 11am. He’s one of the session’s regulars and part of a thriving group of enthusiastic artists.

“I love drawing. And painting. It makes me feel good,” he says.

Last year Michael entered the IHC Art Awards for the first time. With encouragement from his support worker Dyalla Smith and Lindsey’s art sessions, he created a painting on canvas called Jumping Fish, inspired by his love of the sea and sea creatures.

“Michael is visually stimulated, and going to the sessions gave him the visualisation he needed,” says Dyalla. “But the work created was all his own. His own hand and his own brush strokes.”

The IHC Art Awards entries were hung at Webbs Gallery in Wellington and Michael travelled in to see his painting on display.

“I went in the van with Dy,” he says, “and I saw my picture. I felt proud and happy.”

The art enthusiast loved seeing everyone else’s work as well, and after the event got to catch up for coffee with some friends who had entered the awards too.

Jumping Fish sold quickly and to someone he knew well. Dyalla bought the work and it’s something she’s very proud of.

“I love the colours he chose,” says Dyalla, who’s going to have it framed. “They perfectly reflect the subject of his abstract painting.

“I feel really honoured to have Michael’s artwork, but providing him with the opportunity to express his creativity and give it a go gave me the greatest pleasure of all.”

“I pushed myself,” says Michael, who is now preparing for the 2025 IHC Art Awards. He urges others to enter.

“I tell them they can join in with me and enter the Art Awards too.”

Join IHC Media at www.ihcmedia.org.nz

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Caption 1: Michael Trubovich at the IHC Art Awards exhibition.

Caption 2: Michael's artwork 'Jumping Fish'.

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