Nina Paul
After a successful business career as General Manager of Sales and Marketing within the natural health sector—most notably spending ten years at Manuka Health New Zealand — I have since expanded my creative focus into art and acting.
About Me
I am a self‑taught emerging artist, and for the past five years painting has been my language of remembrance and discovery. My work moves across many subjects, yet it is anchored by a lasting connection to my birthplace in Belarus.
Fragments of its landscapes, atmospheres, and quiet emotional weight surface again and again, guiding my exploration of place, identity, and belonging.
Having lived in New Zealand for twenty‑nine years, my practice exists in conversation between two worlds. Memory and presence intertwine on the canvas, where nostalgia meets the textures and light of my life in New Zealand.
Painting has always lived in me, but only recently have I been able to fully surrender to it. Once I begin, I disappear into the process — time dissolves as each work unfolds organically, led by instinct rather than intention. Through this immersion, I continue to grow, allowing curiosity, memory, and feeling to shape the evolving story of my work.
My path to the stage unfolded as a long‑held dream finally given breath. Five years ago, I stepped into my first production with Nash Dom Theatre, The Wiper—a tragic farce drawn from Alexei Tolstoy’s novella—where music, drama, and heightened emotion opened the door to a new creative life. From there, I moved into transformation and play, embodying a wicked magician in The Thirty‑First of June, and later discovering deep joy in character through Mrs Whittaker, the formidable matriarch of Easy Virtue.
In 2025, the stage became a home of many worlds: I wore the crown of a fairytale Queen in Ivanushka, stepped into the fragile self‑awareness of an actress in Six and a Half Stories About It, and brought wit and presence to Marcelina in The Marriage of Figaro. Each role has been a study in voice, movement, and human complexity. This year, I continue the journey, with four new productions ahead—each an invitation to listen, transform, and live truthfully within the shared breath of theatre.