Sorawit Songsataya Awarded Gasworks Residency in London

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Aotearoa New Zealand artist Sorawit Songsataya will undertake a three-month artist’s residency with London non-profit Gasworks beginning in October.

Songsataya’s practice bridges identity and ecology, often referencing birdlife, Thai art and architectural motifs, and making use of New Zealand limestone.

One standout is the fabulous installation The Interior (2019), which features the cast blue corpse of a moa—a giant flightless bird, now extinct—surrounded by stone, fibreglass, and resin birds.

In London, Songsataya plans to conduct interviews with Thai and New Zealand immigrants, coupling the voice recordings with 3D scans of stone buildings and sculptures around London in a meditation on birthplace, home, and identity.

‘This will be a rare opportunity for me to connect and to better understand unique stories and perspectives of New Zealand and Thai immigrants outside the Asia-Pacific region,’ Songsataya said.

‘I am excited to get to know local artists, to exchange ideas, and to engage with local communities,’ they continued. ‘The residency will allow me time and space to explore further different sonic qualities, to listen better, and to experiment with various ways human voice and sound could be presented alongside visual and sculptural component.’

Songsataya is the seventh New Zealand artist to undertake a residency at Gasworks, which is supported by private individuals, the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust, Creative New Zealand, and the British Council Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific.

Natasha Beckman, Director of the British Council Aotearoa New Zealand and Pacific describes the residency as ‘an exceptional annual project, which offers a young artist from Aotearoa the chance to work and live alongside three other international artists-in-residence, as well as nine London-based artists.’

‘At the same time,’ Beckman said, ‘we value the knowledge of Aotearoa that Sorawit will share with others while they are in London.’

Previous New Zealand artists in residence at Gasworks include Sriwhana Spong, Christina Pataialii, and Campbell Patterson. —[O]

Main image: Sorawit Songsataya, Comfort zone, 2022. Single-channel colour HD-video with sound, 10:00 min. Timber, fibreglass, polyester resin, acrylic lacquer. Voice by Awa Pu na (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa). Installation view. Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden. Courtesy of the artist.