Where did it all start?

We officially met while Charles was painting the K Road carpark spot that is now the famous BMD 'KRd' sign along with a few others. It was the late 90s & whatever outfit I had chosen to wear that day only made sense to him that I must have been 'working' & trying to hang around a little - but hey those Spice Girl silver platforms with the super thick soles were the big thing then! Subtle I know but that was the first impression & I guess it must have made an impact because all these years later we are together, stronger than ever.

Fresh, fresh, fresh was on at Mike Westons gallery & again we crossed paths yet this time he tried to steal my glasses & I was totally trying to avoid him. I loved the spray painted teddy bear that he painted along with the Otis Frizzel geisha girl print but it showed me there was perhaps a soft side to the dreaded, rough & rather loud guy they called Phat1. But who was I? Diva to those who asked. I had been around for a little while on the scene hanging with a few friends & that night I met Dyle52 so I guess it was ok for this Southside teen to be amongst their central scene wasn't it?

Tagging, bombing, trains all became the norm & after a little while later we all starting hanging out together. The 3 of us became a little inseperable & it wasn't too long before Dyle52 was in TMD with me following not long after. It was 1999, we were painting & more people joined the crew & not too long later we decided that Charles & I would start dating & within 14 months we were married with our son Izaiah. Askew & Exist visited him when he was only a day old, the bond that soon extended througout the crew was one of family from early on. Beyond the spray paint, the productions, the trains (which quickly died out for us having to make some big decision as parents), TMD became the strong foundation for so many of our art careers & the family so many of us needed in life.

Wedding Day - 9 June 2001 (Photos at the Ponsonby yard taken by Askew One TMD) #artlife #teamwilliams #love #marriage #beginnings

#artlife #teamwilliams #birdgang

#artlife is what we are about - lives that are colourful, creative, filled with dreams, new ideas, jotting down thoughts, drawing on walls, brightening neighbourhoods & implementing our concepts.

Every day is a different expression of who we are & #teamwilliams is the constant reminder that marriage is daily having to work together to make our dreams come true. 14 years into our marriage journey we've learnt lots on the way (usually by mistake lol) but sometimes because we've spent hours, days, weeks & at times years working hard on a particular passion/idea to make it work.

Over the past 5 years our passion for Aotearoa (New Zealand) has grown & we represent that connection to our Māori heritage by painting endemic/native birds, graphic Māori patterns & design concepts within our murals & commission work. #birdgang is about community, connectivity, awareness, passion, being Māori, loving our wildlife & being proud of who we are! In Dec this year we will be releasing the first of the #birdgang range so keep an eye out on Facebook for details & start saving! x

Our blog begins...

If your crazy enough to follow this thing we call #artlife #birdgang #teamwilliams then this blog is an invitation into our daily life as a family of 6 with 4 children (1 college student, 1 intermediate & 2 primary school children). Each day is a constant juggle of mess, timetables, food, art, community, events & everything in between. We can't always fit what we want to say in a simple social media post so this blog is about expanding those stories & letting you in on the fun projects we get involved with & the amazing people we meet along the way :)