A simple, soft and gentle sketch that illustrated a moment of empathy after one of New Zealand’s most horrific attacks propelled a Dunedin artist’s career to new heights.
Yesterday, Ruby Jones returned to Dunedin to share bits of her life since a sketch she made of former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern embracing a Muslim woman after the Christchurch terror attacks of March 15, 2019, went viral.
Her artwork has been displayed in an exhibit called “Soft Lines”, which opened at Tūhura Otago Museum yesterday.
The past five years had been like a roller coster for her, Ms Jones said.
After the March 15 illustration went viral she was asked to illustrate a cover for TIME magazine.
In 2023, Dame Jacinda herself asked her to illustrate a children’s book she was writing, Mum’s Busy Work, which came out this year.
“Since that one illustration kind of went viral in 2019, I feel like life’s just sort of been non-stop.”
She said it was “pretty surreal” to get a call from Dame Jacinda but she tried her best to play it cool.
“In the back of my mind I was thinking ‘this is an absolute dream come true’.”
Soft Lines was her first solo exhibition and it felt special for her to be doing it in Dunedin — where she grew up, she said.
She returned to her primary school, St Clair School, to do a workshop with the children making zines about kindness, which have been displayed in the exhibition.
It was exciting to see her work displayed at the museum on such a large scale, she said.
It was also nice to have the March 15 illustration displayed among her other work.
“While that is a big part of the story, I have other parts to my story as well and I think to be able to show those feels important too.”
She had been obsessed with drawing since a young age.
“It was just always a huge part of my life.”
She drew every day and focused on people rather than landscapes or buildings.
“I mean sometimes I obviously draw about big world events, but I also kind of like to try and focus in on little everyday moments that we might just kind of pass by.”
For the exhibition she had sketched things she loved about Dunedin such as hoiho, Best Cafe and a can of Emerson’s beer.
She described her illustration style as “simple, soft and gentle”.
She moved to Melbourne, Australia, a few months ago and was glad to be visiting home, she said.
It gave her an opportunity to reflect on where she had been, where she came from and where she was now.