Nirun | Sorawit Songsataya

Nirun | Sorawit Songsataya
18 March – 17 June 2023

Taking its title from the Thai word for eternal, 'Nirun' explores (im)permanence, motion, the cyclical and the accumulative nature of ‘home’ at varying scales. Shaped by the richness within Te Waipounamu, the exhibition includes a series of Ōamaru limestone sculptures, prints, films and LED animations that investigate our relationships to place, distance and people.

Sorawit Songsataya is a multimedia artist born in Thailand, currently living in Ōtepoti, where they were the 2022 Frances Hodgkins Fellow. Sorawit is interested in redefining the boundaries of subjectivity and ecology and their interdisciplinary work encompasses sculpture, ceramics, textiles, moving-image, and 3D animation. Selected exhibitions include Nature and State, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, 2022; Otherwise-Image-Worlds, Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, 2022; Thinking Hands, Touching Each Other, Ural Industrial Biennial 2021; Rumours (Mermaid), Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, 2020; The Interior, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, 2019; Offspring of rain, Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, 2019; Starling, Artspace Aotearoa, 2018; and Acting Out, Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, 2017. They are represented in numerous public collections including those of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Massey University, and the University of Auckland.

The Frances Hodgkins Fellowship was established by the University of Otago Council in 1962 to aid and encourage artists, while at the same time associating them with the life of the University and fostering an interest in the Arts within the University. Named after Frances Hodgkins, one of New Zealand's most distinguished painters and also Dunedin-born, the annual 12-month fellowship provides a studio/office space and not less than the minimum salary of a full-time university lecturer.

Nirun runs Saturday 18 March-Saturday 17 June 2023

Until April 1 2023, Hocken Gallery open hours are Tuesday-Saturday 10am-3pm
From April 4, 2023, Hocken Gallery open hours are Tuesday-Saturday 10am-5pm

Image: digital rendering of scanned foraminifera specimens, 2023, courtesy of the artist