North & South

North & South is New Zealand’s premier monthly current affairs and lifestyle magazine, specialising in long-form investigative journalism, delivered by award-winning writers and photographers. North & South also showcases New Zealand ingenuity and creativity, explores the country and profiles its people. It is a touchstone of New Zealand life.

From the Editor

Stellar RB Sellars • The iconic Australian brand crosses the ditch and finds a whole host of new Kiwi fans.

Conversations

Letter of the month

Behind this issue

North & South

AROUND NGĀ MOTU PHOTOGRAPHY • Roses for marriage pomps, and the dear maid’s untimely bier; Roses for fame, pride, joy, romance, Rapture, remembrance, solace in sore pain; Symbols of secrecy, truth, love, holiness;

Four corners • On location

A BOY NAMED Sophie • When Sophie Ottaway was born a boy in 1986, a rare birth defect meant that doctors pushed for immediate surgery that would alter her gender from male to female, warning her mother and father that the procedure must remain a secret — even from Sophie herself. It was only by chance that, at the age of 22, she found out the truth, sparking fury at her parents and doctors, and leading to years of denial, excessive drinking and drug use. Now 37, she talks openly about reconciling with her past — and her family — and what the future holds.

The Kiwi connection • Influential New Zealander John Money was once one of the best-known sexologists in the world, but his research on gender has now been discredited.

The heart of the matter • A doctor’s take on healthcare reform.

One small cut • Wracked with sepsis, a 41-year-old father endured a horrendous wait for treatment, then many days in ICU, heavily sedated. On finally waking, he wanted only to escape.

Subscribe to NORTH & SOUTH for your chance to win a luxury cycling trip on the West Coast Wilderness Trail with Cycle Journeys!

HAYASTAN BEYOND BABYLON • It’s the mysterious little country you’ve never heard of, but Anastasia Doniants is captivated by its history, architecture and the joyful lifestyle of its people. If you want to see it, go there now, she says.

Foreign exchange in a world of change • With the rising cost of overseas travel, Liv Lewis-Long from Simplicity offers some tips for maximising your precious New Zealand dollars overseas.

Twenty-one cerulean beaches • A seemingly endless summer odyssey on Mediterranean islands stirs a writer to reassess her way of life.

“A simple French meal taught me how to be in the world” • Many years ago, a night out in Cannes left an impact that lingers today.

Punahau pilgrimage • Melanie Newfield visits New Zealand’s most polluted lake.

Saying the quiet part in 72pt font • Renaissance woman Catherine Griffiths tells North & South why she’s fed up with design industry inequity, and what she’s doing to fight it.

Portrait of the artist as a dead man • In 2019, New Zealand conceptual artist Bill Culbert died at his home in southern France, where he’d maintained a studio for six decades. It took three years and a 40-foot container to get the studio’s contents to Aotearoa. North & South asked the gallery looking after Culbert’s estate what makes it worth preserving.

People watching Hannah Ireland • Swampy greens, poisonous yellows and bloody carmines swim around Hannah Ireland’s expressionistic figures. Ireland (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi) won a merit award in this year’s National Contemporary Art Award and the major Molly Morpeth Canaday Art Award in 2021. She refuses to limit the materials she paints with, or fix in place the meanings viewers might discover in her ghostly characters.

PRECIOUS CARGO • Pātea, where the Tasman Sea has pummelled and caressed...