A twist of fate or divine intervention? 

An Artful Affair is a woman’s story told in the form of erotic poetry and images. It is a story of an illicit affair that begins lightheartedly, with no strings, and no expectations, until lust turns to love, creating vulnerabilities, a greater risk of exposure, as well as uncertainties and a fluctuating imbalance of power.  Emotions become more erratic, and disappointments threaten the strong attachment between the  lovers before the woman finds her way back to who she had always been, an unreliable narrator of  life

Colette O’Kane and Frankie Bakker were thrown together when they exhibited their art at a major NZ art show, The Christchurch Art Show 2019. Previously unknown to each other they began an instant, easy friendship.

Colette, a writer and self-taught artist, having previously taught English for a couple of decades out in the soaring temperatures of the dry, arid, Aboriginal homelands of Australia’s Northern Territory, had recently returned to Aotearoa/NZ to concentrate on her art and literature.

Frankie (BFA Elam)  painter, illustrator, and poet, author of sexy cookbooks, bacon, and resin books, as well as children's books, was painting seductive, thought-provoking art.  On seeing Frankie’s art Colette knew that this was the artist she needed to complete the story she had begun working on.

Colette's poems were sometimes hilarious, gritty, crude, whimsical, seductive, and quirky. Already imagining and creating work to compliment the story, an immediate, synchronized collaboration was formed. Frankie’s sensual art brought a whole new layer to the story of a woman thinking she would have a short fling, but instead, the lovers find themselves caught in a web of lust, love, heartache, and deceit.

The novel, written in the form of prose poetry, began as a response to 50 Shades of Grey.  Colette found her feminist hackles rising at the idea that women in their thousands were so starved of erotica that they were reading a book founded on a premise that should have disappeared from the landscape decades ago.

  "Surely no woman seriously thinks it is acceptable to have the character of a powerful, older man seducing a virginal girl, introducing and encouraging her to find pleasure in misogynistic sex."  This went against everything Colette believed in, so she set out to write a story that she considered more in line with women’s sexual experiences and desires, wrapped within an illicit affair.  

3 years in the making the book was published mid-December 2023, and copies quickly found their way into art galleries, retail stores, bookshops, restaurants,  hotels, and even sit in cellophane wrap on the shelves of well-known Adult Stores.

The book can't be subtitled to any one category or age group. In one place cellophane wrapping keeps the book a sacred secret, in another it's a piece of art, a table display or beautifully displayed along with Frankie's Art in the hustle of hungry punters at Ma Maison, A top class fusion restaurant that overlooks the Akaroa Harbour.

And Sign up  for the mailing list to keep up to date with the Book and Exhibition tour in 2024 as the artists move through the country, reading and exhibiting, sipping wine, and creating quirky dishes and masquerade ball.