Rita is Rita Angus. Inspired by her uncompromising dedication to life as an artist, I have a photo image of her (by Marti Freidlander) by my front door which I connect with whenever I feel I need more backbone in my life. I used linen thread and attempted a chain stitching of her signature on a painting I am lucky enough to own.

For the past year I have been working with the ancient Greek myth of Leda and the Swan. The myth tells the story of forbidden desire and force, and for centuries artists have framed it as an erotic scene. I have been struggling with this art history, trying to shrug off the lame old patriarchal stand in which paranoid hypocrisy is valorised as sexy paradox. The damage has been done. In my work, making art, I want to create a sensuality for the girl that is both strong-willed and resistant. That is why I write the name Leda here.

Because I love her.

Lesley is my Mum, who passed away suddenly nearly 8 years ago now. She was a nurse and homemaker. She made all our clothes growing up, ( including our ski suits, when we went to the snow), and later knitting beautiful layettes and smocked garments for her grandchildren. I owe my love of craft to her, for she truly coined the term ‘Happiness is Homemade'.

My nana on my mums’ side. Me and my nana design and sell knitted tops together.

I chose Sylvia Ashton-Warner because I had just finished re-reading her book Teacher. I'm a new teacher this year and her determination to teach her Māori students in ways that were meaningful to them is an inspiration (no Janet and John readers in her classes!). It's amazing how prescient and culturally responsive she was in Aotearoa in the 1960s. I also chose a yellow background and brown stitches to reflect the school uniform she tried so hard to institute, she had the girls knitting bright yellow jumpers!

This is for Janet Frame. To me, she is a regular source of inspiration, not only for her creativity and imagination and foresight and hilarity, but for the way she navigated a society that was not necessarily ready or willing to accept her skirting the boundaries of social conformity.

As I’ve stitched this patch, I’ve enjoyed remembering loved memories and admirable qualities of my Grandma Ruth. She was strong, kind, capable and independent. She was a rock in my childhood and a modern woman before her time. I carry her with me.

Rita Angus was such a ground breaker in her time, both in her hard-edged modernist painting style and her personal life. I don’t think she sold one work in her lifetime but that didn’t stop her developing as an artist. By living the solo life, undistracted by the demands of husband and family, she was able to devote herself to her art.

My mum lived in Japan as a high school student for a year during the 80s. Yooko is her Mother, and my Grandmother or ‘Baba’. Some of my favourite memories are of times spent in Japan with Baba.

Beverley was my maternal grandmother. A domestic goddess, creative, stylish and charming with a cabinet of wonders from her world travels. She was also entrepreneurial and courageous in her work life. I still take cues from her example of a creative existence. She taught me many domestic tricks- sewing, baking and knitting and I still can't finish knitting a jumper but I think of her every time I have to undo a tangle. To be raised in the orbit of her love, so patient and pure makes my memories of childhood glow with her light.