Mercy Value 2026: Walking the Path of Service together...

I recently created a new illustration for St Mary's College in Ponsonby to accompany their Mercy value for 2026: Service - Āwhinatanga.

Over the summer break, I was asked to create an illustration based on the boots that Catherine McAuley wore. As the founder of the Sisters of Mercy, her boots can symbolise her tireless commitment to serving others. The illustration imagines those boots resting at the beginning of a winding path — a quiet moment that holds both contemplation and action.

Thanks to those with whom I worked on this project; I am learning how service in the Mercy tradition is never simply about doing. It begins with reflection, attentiveness, and compassion, and then moves outward into the world through practical care for others. The boots symbolise readiness—the willingness to walk alongside people and respond where help is needed.

Throughout 2026, this visual resource will be used across the college to help communicate and reflect on the Mercy charism through the value of Āwhinatanga. Our hope is that the image invites students and staff to pause, reflect, and then step forward together—walking the path of service in everyone's everyday lives.

Projects like this are always a privilege: bringing together illustration, storytelling, and faith tradition to help a community reflect on the values that shape who they are. And after two years there on placement for counselling. It is also a priviledge to now be working at SMC three days a week.

If your school community is looking for visual resources, I would love to hear from you. And if you know of a school or organisation that could benefit from some fresh visual resources, please pass along my website. I would love to hear from you....

~Jane

Service Āwhinatanga -- Walking the path of service together

Mood Board inspiration

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https://video.wixstatic.com/video/dde575_975b412d3394470dabb7212fe0b7baf7/720p/mp4/file.mp4

Extra to the original brief:

I believe in continually learning. So, beyond the original brief, I have been experimenting with AI.

Importantly, AI can never replace humans, human experience, emotions, years of lived experience, and how designers can understand not just visual art—but importantly, meaning-making, and future thinking. All my original artwork is hand-drawn. However, AI can help to streamline tasks and grow our creativity. Hence, I have been learning new ways to animate my hand-drawn illustrations (such as the boots above). This short AI-generated video is an example that turns hand-drawn illustrations into animations...