Wild night out leads to friendship and Aboriginal artwork

Over the last seventeen years Katrina Kallil has made a name for herself in Nelson as both the owner of the popular Suter Gallery Café and a charismatic entertainer. Larger than life and bursting with bonhomie, Katrina talks to Matt Lawrey about her work, her life and her favourite piece of art.

Katrina Kallil traces the ownership of her favourite artwork back to a memorable night in Kings Cross, Sydney.

Katrina was having “a very wild night out” in 2002 with her cousin, Delia-Rose Farr, when they met the award-winning Aboriginal artist Walangari Karntawarra.

Walangari made such a good impression, Katrina and Delia-Rose ended up heading back to his apartment in the wee hours to check out his art. It was the start of a great friendship for Katrina and a romantic partnership for Delia-Rose; she and Walangari instantly hit it off and remain a couple to this day.

At the time, Katrina was living in Queenstown and shooting over to Sydney every six months to catch up with Delia-Rose.

Over the years Katrina got to know and greatly respect Walangari and in 2005 decided to splash out and buy one of his paintings to mark her 52nd birthday.

Entitled ‘Snake Dreaming,’ the colourful oil painting references the Rainbow Snake that is seen in Aboriginal culture as The Creator. The artwork’s imagery includes The Seven Sisters (Matariki), fire, a centipede, the Milky Way, a kangaroo mouse, water and a rainbow.

Katrina says she loves the painting’s colour and “fantastic” energy and the way it takes her back to that time in her life.

“When I look at it, I feel happy,” she said.

Katrina, who has owned and operated The Suter Café for the last 17 years, says she has always loved art. Her home features numerous oil paintings, sculptural pieces and an icon of Mary and the baby Jesus that her parents used to pray to.

Over years Katrina has also inspired art. She grew up in Dunedin where her striking Lebanese looks made her standout a mile. As a result, numerous artists asked to paint her portrait and some of the resulting artworks hang in her home.

“It’s very pretentious of me,” Katrina laughed.

She says growing up Lebanese in Otago was a unique and wonderful experience.

“We all lived in the same area. It was fantastic because we had our family all around us.”

Her family ended up in Dunedin as part of the Lebanese diaspora. Katrina jokes that her grandparents were supposed to be heading to Australia but her grandfather was in the middle of a good game of cards and refused to get off the ship, so they ended up in New Zealand.

Her grandfather was a renowned gambler who had already spent time in the USA when he returned to Lebanon to marry her grandmother. He was in his thirties, she was 12.

“She was 12!” Katrina exclaimed shaking her head.

As a young woman in Dunedin, Katrina was in a band and acted at the Fortune Theatre.

A keen skier, Katrina spent a “wonderful” 20 years in Queenstown before a two-year stint in Hokitika.

She was encouraged to come to Nelson by another cousin, local lawyer Rick Farr (Delia-Rose’s brother).

“Ricky said ‘come up to Nelson, I haven’t got any family up in Nelson’.”

After all her years in the Nelson hospo scene, Katrina retains her huge enthusiasm for both the industry and looking after people.

“It’s been mostly a pleasure. The gallery has been so good to me and we have had very, very good customers. I’ve been very happy, and I’ve had fabulous staff,” she said.

“I’m genuinely interested in people. I care. I’ve always been a person who enjoys dealing with people.”

In addition to her cafe work, Katrina is well known for entertaining people as a singer and raconteur.

“Entertaining people is the one thing I’m good at. My voice isn’t great but it’s getting better, funnily enough. You wouldn’t expect to see a 73-year-old performing, but here I am.”