Whiti o Rehua School of Art
College of Creative Arts
Massey University Wellington
New Zealand, Aotearoa
creative.massey.ac.nz
The Wellington International Artist Residency Te Whare Hēra is pleased to announce Soraya Rhofir as our first artist in residence of 2017.
Soraya Rhofir is an artist who revels in the world of “moche” objects and imagery. This French adjective roughly translates to ugly, unstylish, tacky or trashy.
Rhofir has spent the last ten years developing her artistic practice through what she terms a “collagist approach.” She combines images and motifs from 1990’s CD-ROM clipart, 16-bit video game graphics, B-Z grade films and “serving suggestion” images from food packaging into both small-scale paper collages and large, immersive installations. Initially inspired by grocery store display stands, Soraya’s life-sized cardboard cut-outs cluster together visual icons such as Miss Piggy and the Venus de Milo in riotous diorama format sculptures and installations.
Soraya Rhofir’s work has been identified as an example of “Postinternet” art practice. Postinternet art can be defined as art created by artists who have been exposed to and affected by the internet as an inescapable part of their lives, their visual education and artistic practices. This is realised in Soraya’s installation works such as Double Consicousness, 2010, and Crannog, 2014, where a visual overload is created via the excess and juxtaposition of banal digital and pop cultural imagery.
During her residency in New Zealand, Soraya has been researching aspects of “Kiwiana”—the objects, souvenirs, and popular icons which represent, shape, and communicate an idea of New Zealand identity nationally and internationally. Soraya has taken a series of research trips to view New Zealand’s “Big Things,” the roadside attractions in the form of oversized objects (the Giant Carrot in Ohakune, Taihape’s Gumboot, and Gore’s Brown Trout for example) which are a frequent sight in rural New Zealand.
“I didn’t know what these ‘Big Things’ were, that’s why I really wanted to see them,” Soraya said. “They seem to be signs and landscape marks… I wanted to discover the country like a pilgrim, following ‘the way of the Big Things.’” These oversized emblems of a small town’s claim to fame or local industry are archetypes of New Zealand’s Kiwiana. Construction of the ‘Big Things’ has been driven by both community pride and a desire to attract tourism and to ‘put our town on the map.’ They provoke a mixture of affection and embarassment in New Zealanders, their naïve construction and hyperbole contrasting the grandeur of New Zealand’s landscapes—usually the staple of New Zealand’s international tourist promotion. As Soraya says, “It might be easier to find beauty in the spectacular landscapes of New Zealand, but when I started to look at Kiwiana I found these ‘Big Things’ work like an outdoor museum… your sense of kitsch could have a strong effect on mine!”
Soraya Rhofir will mount a solo exhibition of this new work in Wellington in mid 2017.
The Wellington International Artist Residency Te Whare Hēra is a partnership between Massey University’s Whiti o Rehua School of Art and Wellington City Council. Soraya Rhofir’s residency is supported by the French Embassy in New Zealand. Te Whare Hēra and French Artists is a special initiative enabling artists from France to participate in the Te Whare Hēra residency programme in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Te Whare Hēra residency coordinator Ann Shelton says, “This programme is designed to bring exciting contemporary international artists to live, work and exhibit in Wellington city, to connect with our creative sectors and bring diverse international practices to Wellington audiences. We are thrilled to be partnering with the French Embassy to bring leading French artists to Wellington.”
Soraya Rhofir (b. Paris, 1981) has had solo exhibitions at Les Eglises in the city of Chelles (2013) and at Parc Saint-Léger, in Pougues-les-Eaux (2012). She was short-listed for the 2010 Prix Ricard Art Prize for artists under 40 in Paris, and for the international Present-Future Artissima Turin International Art Fair.
Events:
Thursday March 2, 6pm
Soraya Rhofir artist lecture
The Pit, Te Ara Hihiko (Block 12), Massey University Wellington
Admission free
Wednesday April 12, 5:30pm
International Connections: Artist Residency Forum
Soraya Rhofir (Wellington International Artist Residency Te Whare Hēra) and Janine Eisenaecher (Goethe Institut Artist in Residence)
Adam Auditorium, City Gallery Wellington
Admission free
