Folina Vili

The Space Between

Artist Statement 

I stand between the pine and koko trees

they grow tall on the Waitaki Valley hillside and in the village of Faleapuna.

Planted by my grandmother, 

planted by my father.

Two sides. Two faces. Changing skins. 

Supported by the spirits in the vā 

the space between.

Debbie Templeton-Page

Faces in Time

Joe Clarke

The Interior Burden

I am a Christchurch, New Zealand born artist and recent MA graduate exploring mixed media techniques with an emphasis on printmaking methods. My aim is to use these mediums to create awareness and discussion about mental health issues, particularly, anxiety and depression. Looking at how society mediates and reflects mental illness, as well as reflecting on my own experiences has allowed me to undertake a personal journey resulting in works that I feel differ from existing media on the subject, which is often stigmatising and negative, serving to ‘other’ those affected by mental health issues.

While my work is primarily print based, my process is very experimental and often results in mixed media work that combines many contrasting techniques and aesthetics into one work. With my recent self-portraiture work, it is not uncommon to find elements of screen print, pastel, embossing, collage, watercolour, as well as woodcut included within the same piece of work. I also employ the use of found and second-hand frames to reinforce phenomenological ideas surrounding the memory of place and domesticity found within the work.

Using ideas inspired by Freudian psychoanalytic theories such as the uncanny, doppelgangers and the unconscious, my work aims to invoke a sense of altered reality or perception and challenges the viewer to confront themselves and become complicit in the work.