6x4

FAUST ON TRIAL

Doctor Faustus and Mephistopheles are on trial, trapped in a cage, presided over by Helen of Troy. Faust sold his soul to the devil centuries ago and now he wants it back. Each night the audience gets to vote for which actor goes home to their own bed, leaving the other locked in the cage with a folding mattress and a composting toilet.

This feels particularly poignant as we approach one of the most pivotal elections in the history of this country. Over the past three years we have seen this government attack our most vulnerable communities, dismantle protections for the natural world, ignore the urgent advice of professionals, and repeatedly dishonour Te Tiriti o Waitangi. They have pushed a record-breaking number of reckless and damaging bills through parliament under urgency, allowing them to bypass the scrutiny of select committee. They have changed the rules to make it more difficult for people to exercise their right to vote.

They have made it clear that they want to erode our democracy.

Because they are afraid of the power we hold when we exercise it.

So please, I urge everyone to register to vote. Even if you think you are registered, check your details online. WE CANNOT REGISTER TO VOTE ON THE DAY AND WILL BE TURNED AWAY. Ask your friends, family, neighbours, workmates, and acquaintances if they have registered and checked their registration.

We must practice and protect our democracy for there are forces that wish to take it away from us.

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It has been a joy to be the costume and set designer for Faust On Trial. I am in awe of Josiah, Stella, and Jonty who have crafted this powerful and energetic show with inspiring and infectious devotion.

11 - 16 August

Te Matatiki Toi Ora, The Arts Centre

Pay what you choose tickets on Humanitix

7pm every night, additional 10am, 2pm & midnight showings on some dates

Jonty Coulson is Doctor Faustus
Josiah Morgan is Mephistopheles
Stella Cheersmith is Helen of Troy
Ethan is Faust and Mephistopheles

Soundtrack for this video by B G

The second part to the video I made for the projection wall at Te Ara Ātea for 'The Soil Addresses Us As One', a collaborative show with Georgina May Young Christine Brimer and Gina Russell curated by Erin Lee

This is a shortened version which focuses on organic indigo and other natural dye plants. A full length version will be on my YouTube channel.

Gina is now working on a very exciting project called Papahoa Fibreworks with seonaid burnie continuing to grow organic linen and natural dye plants, as well as offering a natural dye service, fibre, and natural dye materials!

In 2024 I started filming the organic textiles and natural dyes project Growing Textiles of a dear friend Gina Russell

I wanted to document the process of growing fibre from seed, telling a story about textiles that we rarely get to hear when we are so far removed from the origins of what we use and wear in our daily lives. 

It was a deeply profound experience.

Throughout the season we worked towards a collaborative show with Christine Brimer and Georgina May Young called "The Soil Addresses Us As One' at Te Ara Ātea, curated by Erin Lee using the materials that Gina has grown at the The BHU Organic College

Through working with these materials I was able to understand how we can become connected to place through the work of our hands. I had never worked with materials directly from the soil, from a place I knew, grown by people I knew. Through this process I gained an embodied understanding of how textiles have played such a huge part in connecting us to the land, to each other, and to our identity throughout history. This was a sharp contrast to the modern fashion and textiles industry, which is inextricably tied to colonisation, slavery, environmental destruction, and culture loss. 

Projects like this remind me that the part of our humanness that loves storytelling, loves the earth, loves to dress, and loves to craft is never far away. 

It can not be taken away from us because it is inherent to who we are. 

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I am so grateful for my friendship with Gina and all those who I have met through this project. For the show at Te Ara Ātea I made a video work specifically for their 15 metre long projection wall. This is an shortened, edited version which focuses on linen. A full length version will be on my YouTube channel.

Gina is now working on a very exciting project called Papahoa Fibreworks with seonaid burnie continuing to grow organic linen and natural dye plants, as well as offering a natural dye service, fibre, and natural dye materials!

M O O N B L I N D

Last night I watched our planet cast its shadow on The Moon. Very few humans have had the chance to view Earth as a whole but those who have often report a profound shift in perspective as they see our fragile blue planet hovering alone in endless space. The overview effect. All of our joy, grief, ecstasy, war, disaster and triumph taking place on this lonely sphere. No divisions, no borders, no passports: just one planet, one ecosystem.

As I watched The Moon turn copper red I felt like I was looking into an obscure mirror. We rarely have opportunities to feel the size of our planet. Perhaps when we contemplate a photo from space or glimpse that graceful curve from a small window on an international flight. I watched that same curve as it cast a shadow across the face of the pale moon. It gave me a sense of the Earth as a mass in space, in relation to the sun, in relation to the moon. Then emptiness between these bodies became apparent, the endlessness of space beyond, unfathomable. Somewhere in that shadow was me. Somewhere in that shadow was every single one of us. That distant mirror watching us, knowing the planet and all its inhabitants to be one.

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I finished making this blind for the bedroom window on the evening of the blood moon. I used leftover fabric from the large jogakbo-inspired patchwork screen I made to fit the window in the gallery of the Dowse (over 4 x 6 metres in size!). As light from the sun and moon filters in through the circle, arriving from millions of miles away, I hope it will always be a reminder of this overview effect.

THE VESSEL
An upcoming show at

We are living in times of profound, unprecedented loneliness, where the myth of the individual self claims to offer paths to success and happiness but ultimately works to isolate and disconnect us from ourselves, each other, and the world. We feel alone and wonder what is wrong with us, rather than interrogate the society that offers little potential for community-building, shared storytelling, and collective dreaming. When we examine our environment it quickly becomes clear that nothing is individual or separate: everything is connected through a complex web of relationships, even our bodies rely on a whole ecosystem of microbiota for survival. We are not alone. We are part of this world and it is part of us. This show is not about my work as an isolated phenomenon: it is an ode to the network of connections that have shaped my world and creative practice, to those who have come before me, and to those who will continue to create, share, and listen to stories for as long as the human race exists. When we can find moments of connection, despite the tides of disunion and confusion that try to keep us apart, we feel the boundaries of our personhood become permeable. We sing, longing to melt into the great ocean of being, and feel the walls of our empty vessel reverberate with the song of the world.

I warmly invite everyone to the opening

Friday 20 Feb, 6pm

Come dressed in your most extravagant outfit!
The one you never have an occasion to wear!
Whatever makes you feel like your best, truest self!
A celebration of embodiment!

Free return bus service leaving from Te Papa on Cable Street at 5:30pm, returning at 8pm. First come, first seated

Please RSVP to [email protected] by 16 Feb

In the spirit of togetherness, I have invited dear some friends to create a collaborative public programme on the 21st and 22nd


Details to come!

Thanks to the friends who helped with this shoot
Camera: Francesca Logan
Photography: Bri Leone-Rhea Lawrence
Assistant: John Harris

My dear friend Jang Huddle came down to Ōtautahi to stay with me for a few days. During our time together we talked about lots of things. We talked about what it means to be Korean on this unceded whenua and the trauma we inherit as children of a people torn in half. We talked about culture and the complexity of being disconnected from your own heritage, but also the joy of rediscovery. Culture is not an artefact, it is a process and a practice. We get to have a say in what it means to be Korean, and moreover what it means to be Korean-New Zealanders. It is an ongoing journey in the same way that it is an ongoing journey for us as tauiwi to because tangata tiriti: people of the treaty, who honour the treaty.

Cindy 윤하 is a brightly heartful, deeply caring person and a beautiful dancer. We went to the red zone to take some photos of a dress from an old collection. It was made from repurposed bamboo viscose that I buried in the ground for a while then used as a drop cloth. I hand darned the holes in the fabric before draping the dress. We talked about abandoned places and the idea of home. I gave this dress to Cindy to wear in Korea during an upcoming residency at Horanggasy in Gwangju.

Blessings for the lunar new year!

When I was younger I didn’t really understand the meaning of such cultural celebrations, I just thought of them as pleasant relics of my Korean heritage that I didn’t quite understand. But as I grow older I am realising how deeply significant these traditions are, allowing us to engage in the ritualised creation of meaning. Even though the cultural context changed when my family immigrated across the pacific ocean, the spirit of these celebrations remain the same. This is so important when capitalism and ongoing colonial power structures seek to alienate us from ourselves, our communities, and the natural environment. So often the stories about who we are get told to us, but our cultural celebrations tie us to our past in order to situate us in the present and allow us to tell our own stories. We can mark the passing of time at the pace of the heavens rather than the beat of the clock, reminding ourselves that we are a step in the dance of the cosmos. This is a heartening reminder, especially when things seem dark. I reach out and kindle hope in closeness with friends and family.

This video shows the process behind two of the works for ‘Yawning at the Fray’, a show I made in collaboration with Ruby Chang-Jet White for The Physics Room last year. The hand sewn silk hangings, ‘A house made from inherited bricks’, were made exactly to fit the windows at the physics room. Gina Russell from Growing Textiles NZ helped me dye them with organic indigo that she grew herself at the BHU organics college. In Korea there is a tradition of giving fine silver spoons and chopsticks to couples who are getting married. My parents and maternal grandparents were given such gifts, and these were passed down to me. I melted them down to make ‘Sing me the songs you used to sing’, a hammered bell hanging on a twisted cord of indigo-dyed silk.

These works are steeped in the warmth of the relationships that brought the materials to my hands. We do not come from nowhere, we are not isolated individuals: we are deeply interconnected. Let us find hope, direction, and purpose in remembering that we are the ancestors for future generations.

With love

Silkworms spinning their golden homes.

I was given a few worms to rear by Gina of Growing Textiles NZ. I loved having these little creatures quietly munching away on fragrant mulberry leaves in my studio. By the time the silk hardened the pupae had shrunk and stiffened, rattling around inside the cocoon. At this point I put them in the freezer. Once all the worms have pupated they will be processed, killing the worms but releasing the unbroken strand of silk that can measure up to a kilometre long. In Korea the pupae are eaten as a protein-rich street snack so I am going to test out a few recipes.

Working with raw materials directly from the soil has been very special for me. My interactions with indigo in the past have been with the powdered pigment extract, but through working with Gina of 'Growing Textiles' I have been able to begin a relationship with the living plant. I loved being able to experiment with how I could use different parts of the plant in various applications. I used the fresh green leaves in an ice-extraction dye on silk, suede, and wool. The leftover pulp from this I mixed with flour and made into beads. The dried leaves I used as a bed for the ceramic eggs given to me by Cheryl Lucas for a show 'Free Range' at The National. The remaining dried leaves I will try to grind into a pigment. I made this coiled basket vase using the dried stalks. The waxed linen thread was coloured using charcoal from my fireplace. It was finished with a mixture of Tung oil and beeswax, and it holds the retted and dried stalks of linen that I will process into fibre after this show.

This basket travelled with me while I went on holiday with some friends...

Planting hopes like seeds for the coming year

I want to find ways of aligning my life to the cycles of nature: to the seasons that change, reminding us of the passing of time and the eternal dance of life and death. This is not an original idea, until very recently it was the unquestionable force that ruled our lives but in our post-industrial world we live according to the beat of the calendar and clock. These metronomes don’t acknowledge the ebb and flow of the seasons but keep us in time to a standardised hour, the metric of our productivity. They view us as clockwork rather than beings with rich inner lives and an innate connection to larger systems. I want to see the year as a cycle rather than a calendar. As I embrace the coming Spring I plant my hopes like seeds for the coming year.

Earlier this year I made a connection with Gina and Charlotte of 'Growing Textiles NZ' out at BHU organics college at Lincoln University where they are growing organic linen, indigo, and other dye plants. I helped with their first indigo harvest and took some home for my own use. This was my first time connecting with materials directly from the soil and it was a transformative experience. Using these materials, grown with love and care for wider systems, made me see my connection to place and to others in a new light. I felt, in an embodied sense, the massive part textiles have played in our lives and communities until so recently. Textiles is the second most polluting industry in the world. Working with Gina and Charlotte gives me hope for the future and I am excited to help with the coming season.

This work was made in response to a dozen ceramic eggs given to me by Cheryl Lucas. It will be included in 'Free Range' at The National where 16 artists have been invited to respond to their own dozens. It is made from dried indigo stalks from the previous harvest, after their leaves were stripped to use as dye. It holds the eggs on a bed of dried indigo leaves. It holds my hopes for the coming season. It holds my hopes for our relationship with textiles and the planet as a species.