NOELL RATAPU

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

My name is Noell Ratapu. I am a 24-year-old Queer, Indigenous (Māori), Disabled woman artist from Aotearoa, New Zealand. Now living in Southern California to receive lifesaving treatment for my degenerative disability called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (type 3). I lost the ability to walk at age 11 and have been in a wheelchair ever since. My art depicts a variety of different styles, but mainly abstract and self-portraits. Art in any medium has given me the ability to transcend into a different reality. Creating art has become a huge sense of freedom that has carried me through this life and has kept me afloat even when I felt as if I was sinking. For the past 3 years, I started my digital art journey since my hands are now too weak for painting and drawing. It allowed me to explore more of my creativity without feeling burnt out from exhaustion and has lit a stronger and brighter fire of passion underneath me. 

@NoellRatapuArt

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