Louisa Wall has made the winning bid of $2,500 for a portrait a gay artist painted of her for a charity auction. Te Mete painted the piece of the MP and GLBT rights advocate after a private sitting. Half the proceeds are going to the New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF). Ten per cent of the proceeds from the rest of Te Mete’s work auctioned at the Gay Ball at the Chateau Tongariro this weekend is also going to the NZAF. The NZAF’s Executive Director Shaun Robinson says Te Mete is clearly an artist of enormous talent and the portrait of Wall is a taonga “That he has generously offered to donate a portion of the proceeds from the auction to the NZAF is a credit to his character and we extend our heartfelt thanks to him for choosing to support the work that we do.” Te Mete has also approved 10 limited edition prints of "Louisa Wall in White Light" which will be signed by Wall and go to ten different charities around the country. “It was also announced that image I painted will go on the Front of the Equality Amendment Bill, which is an honour,” he says. “I can't believe it really I feel very blessed that my painting is officially apart of global HISTORY.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 21st May 2013 - 2:45pm