Gasworks,
the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust and the Office for
Contemporary Art Aotearoa are delighted to announce that
Abigail Aroha Jensen will travel to London in October as the
ninth New Zealand artist to undertake a residency at
Gasworks. Nearly 80 applications were received for the 2025
residency, with the Gasworks selection committee commenting
on the extremely high standard of
applications.
Abigail is interested in the
repetition and stagnation of culture, images, language,
motifs and sound, and how mauri (life force) may transfer
between the object and the body. Her work is often
site-specific and responds to desolate land sites, fantasy
worlds, ‘the archive’, and local histories related to
labour, colonial entanglements and online habitats.
Abigail’s studio practice involves harvesting and weaving
with harakeke (flax) and other found materials, rope making,
drawing, painting, screen printing, sound, installation and
improvisation. These ways of making demand a sustained
repetition of specific gestures, which in turn influence
visual and sonic artworks.
During her
residency at Gasworks, she plans to spend time developing
her research around mauri, collecting materials, foraging
for new flora and fauna and sketching in the studio. She
will also visit and document sites of interest to compose
the score for her first film, NZ
Forever.
Advertisement – scroll to continue reading
Abigail
lives in Ngāruawāhia, Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand.
Recent exhibitions include: Rope Play, (a series of
acts), sites across Aotearoa including; Tāmaki Makaurau
Auckland, Pōneke Wellington, Heretaunga Hastings, Ōtepōti
Dunedin, Ōtautahi Christchurch, Kirikiriroa Hamilton,
Köln, Germany and the Busan, South Korea (2022- present);
Spring Time is Heart-break: Contemporary Art in
Aotearoa, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū
(2023); Glittering Images, Grace Aotearoa (2024);
Inside my papahou: puoro tuatin i. H er site, Désirée
– ā whakamātao owha co- commissioned by Te Tuhi and
the Busan Biennale Organising Committee, South Korea; (2024)
cab-sous vide, The Dowse Art Museum, (2024) What
thrives on these soils, at Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga,
Hastings Art Gallery, and Bootleg, The Physics Room,
Ōtautahi Christchurch, (2025).
About the
residency
The Gasworks residency offers an
early / mid-career artist, opportunities for self -led
professional development, artistic exchange and
experimentation and development of new international
networks, and as such can be significant for the advancement
of their career. Alongside the time for extensive
practice-based research and access to artists in London with
similar interests, Gasworks provides opportunities for the
artist to develop new work and showcase their practice, work
ethic and conceptual focuses to an international audience,
including curators and collectors, unavailable in Aotearoa
New Zealand.
The residency provides return flights to
London, 24/7-access to a private studio space in the
Gasworks building, accommodation in a house shared with
three or four other international artists in residence with
Gasworks, plus living and materials allowance.
The
critical nature at the heart of Gasworks encourages the
fostering of active dialogues with local creative
practitioners, including artists, curators and writers, as
well as direct engagement with important London-based
artist-run spaces, collectives, galleries, museums, patrons
and collectors.
The three-month, fully funded
residency will take place from October – December 2024 and
is delivered through a partnership between Gasworks, the Jan
Warburton Charitable Trust and the Office for Contemporary
Art Aotearoa. The 2025 residency is made possible by the
very generous support of individuals and trusts, including
the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust, Jenny and Andrew Smith,
Shirley-Ann and Rick Mannering, Dame Jenny Gibbs, Bath
Street Arts Trust, Tim Melville and Rosemary and Tim
Auld.
This will be the ninth consecutive Gasworks
Residency for a NZ artist. Previous artists in residence at
Gasworks are Sriwhana Spong, Katrina Beekhuis, Hikalu
Clarke, Christina Pataialii, Sarah Rose, Campbell Patterson,
Sorawit Songsataya and Shiraz Sadikeen.
About
Gasworks
Established in 1994, Gasworks is a
non-profit contemporary visual art organisation working
between UK and international practices, offering a cohesive
space of critical dialogue and studio-driven practices.
Gasworks run a highly respected international residency
program offering artists the opportunity to research new
work in London. Events, workshops and open-studio events are
organised to engage the wider community, as well to provide
the resident artists an opportunity to develop and expand
their professional networks. Through Gasworks, curator and
patron visits ensure that the artists are provided with an
active landscape to ensure the exposure of their artistic
practices.
About Jan Warburton Charitable
Trust
The Jan Warburton Charitable Trust
(JWCT) was established by Dunedin based collector and
philanthropist, Jan Warburton, to support the development of
contemporary art in Aotearoa New Zealand, with a particular
focus on late-emerging and mid-career artists.
The
residency for a New Zealand artist at Gasworks was developed
by the Trust in 2016 and has been supported over the years
by a number of individuals. Without their continuing
generosity, the residency would not be
possible.
About Office for Contemporary Art
Aotearoa
The Office for Contemporary Art
Aotearoa (OCAA) works in partnership with other
organisations and individuals, both from New Zealand and
internationally to enable and facilitate the presentation of
work by New Zealand artists at major overseas exhibitions;
and to encourage exchange and dialogue between visual arts
practitioners from New Zealand and their international
counterparts. OCAA was formed in early 2024 and is based in
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Prior to the formation of OCAA,
OCAA’s director, Stephanie Post worked with Gasworks and
the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust to develop the residency.
OCAA is delighted to continue this work fundraising for and
facilitating the annual residency at Gasworks and is
extremely grateful to all those who support the funding of
the
residency.
No Comment! Be the first one.