A last word… for now (Goodbye 2025)

A little reflection seems to be in place now we have completed yet another year.

Six years ago BiograView stories were published for the first time. Starting out with the aim to take away the stigma we can experience when encountered with other cultures; to familiarise ourselves with people who have chosen to be part of our community; people who have left their lives behind in their home country to adjusting to their new lives, living with culture shock every day for the first few months if not years (it took me around three years before I felt fully integrated in the New Zealand way of life and even now there are clear signs that I haven’t actually, and some Dutch traits still prevail!).

BiograView developed from completely self-published and online only, to a printed magazine with more than just people stories; a magazine written by a team of journalists/writers from around New Zealand (and with different cultural backgrounds); each team member specialising in their own topics that related to culture in their own unique ways.

These topics extended to art stories – one a fantastic story written by Philippa Hadlow following an interview with husband-and-wife artists, Roger Peters and Maree Horner.

I had visited the QI (Quaternary Institute) on their home base many years ago and I was fascinated then: invited into the studio full of literature and art works that extended to outside on the property with sculptures and other structures.

You can imagine that I was ‘a little’ excited when Roger got in touch earlier this year to invite me to his next exhibition (ART, ARTIST, ARTICLES) coming up in February, 2026 in which our story by Philippa Of Art, Love, Shakespeare and the Natural Order (BiograView issue 04) will feature!

BiograView, Perspectives from around the globe may have ceased its production but it certainly still lives on! (I can’t help thinking of the line Gone but not forgotten from Neil Young’s 1979 song Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)).

I am very grateful for the opportunity to be there and look forward to see ART, ARTIST, ARTICLES, in the flesh.

If you have a chance to drop by please have a look at Roger’s work of Thirty three works mentioned or visible in Press Clippings and Publications from 1972 – 2024. The exhibition will open on the 14th of February at the Percy Thomson Gallery in Stratford, Taranaki.

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Looking back at this point in time, I am not sure how much social transformation in New Zealand or around the world is actually taking place or if full acceptance is even attainable.

While BiograView advocates for social transformation through positive cultural awareness and promotes diversity and culture equality in education and the workplace, it is great to see that people/migrant stories appear to be much more prevalent now, at least in New Zealand (not the case when I first started BiograView so in that sense we have been successful with our contribution), I know that through the embrace of all ethnicities and cultures and standing for peace within humanity we can look forward to a world where transformation is possible.

Bring on 2026.