Personal Space
Personal Space is a 30-minute collection of five new artist cinema works by Janet Lilo, Tanu Gago, Natasha Matila-Smith, Campbell Patterson (NZ) and Atong Atem (Aus).
What do we call ‘home’? What are our shared foundations and values? When you think about yours what does it look like, and what will it look like in the future? What does home mean to you?
Serena Bentley is a New Zealand-born curator currently based in Melbourne, where she works for ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image).
Each artist was asked to respond to a series of questions about the idea of home. The concept was prompted in part by Bentley's 12-year residence in Melbourne and also from her observing events from afar, including the recent Christchurch shooting.
Says Bentley, "I have lived away from Aotearoa NZ, my home, for twelve years and I continue to feel an unrelenting longing for my family there and for the land. I appreciate however that distance changes your relationship to place – it can be easy to erase the complexities of home and to romanticise it instead."
Bentley's invitation to the artists acknowledged that what we call 'home' is often problematic.
The five artists have all responded to the brief in diverse ways; Natasha Matila-Smith invites us into her bedroom to reveal her innermost thoughts, Campbell Patterson performs seemingly absurd actions in orange juice-soaked underpants; Atong Atem maps her journey from Ethiopia to Melbourne; Tanu Gago amplifies images of Pasifika masculinity; Janet Lilo offers a lament for the loss of the family home.
Commissioned by CIRCUIT Artist Film and Video Aotearoa New Zealand with the support of Creative New Zealand in 2019, and curated by Serena Bentley.
What do we call ‘home’? What are our shared foundations and values? When you think about yours what does it look like, and what will it look like in the future? What does home mean to you?
Serena Bentley is a New Zealand-born curator currently based in Melbourne, where she works for ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image).
Each artist was asked to respond to a series of questions about the idea of home. The concept was prompted in part by Bentley's 12-year residence in Melbourne and also from her observing events from afar, including the recent Christchurch shooting.
Says Bentley, "I have lived away from Aotearoa NZ, my home, for twelve years and I continue to feel an unrelenting longing for my family there and for the land. I appreciate however that distance changes your relationship to place – it can be easy to erase the complexities of home and to romanticise it instead."
Bentley's invitation to the artists acknowledged that what we call 'home' is often problematic.
The five artists have all responded to the brief in diverse ways; Natasha Matila-Smith invites us into her bedroom to reveal her innermost thoughts, Campbell Patterson performs seemingly absurd actions in orange juice-soaked underpants; Atong Atem maps her journey from Ethiopia to Melbourne; Tanu Gago amplifies images of Pasifika masculinity; Janet Lilo offers a lament for the loss of the family home.
Commissioned by CIRCUIT Artist Film and Video Aotearoa New Zealand with the support of Creative New Zealand in 2019, and curated by Serena Bentley.
Great Hall – The Arts Centre, 2 Worcester Boulevard, Christchurch Central
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