I touch the surface, we draw wild beauty

Sena Park, I touch the surface, we draw wild beauty, 2025.

Sena Park, I touch the surface, we draw wild beauty, 2025.

now on
31 Jan – 14 Mar

Sena Park

Sena Park’s practice explores the evolving relationship between human-designed environments and natural ecosystems, two poles held in particular tension within domestic gardens. Encompassing installation, expanded forms of painting, sculpture, photography and moving image, I touch the surface, we draw wild beauty reflects upon human endeavours to define or transform the wildness of nature in these private spaces. The works in this exhibition take inspiration from the artist’s observations of her surroundings and everyday realities across differing locations, including Tāmaki Makaurau and Paihia in Aotearoa, as well as her travels to Mongolia and Japan. Unstretched canvases are hung from steel frames, crafting a series of framed views within the gallery space. Synthetic fabrics and sculptural objects are juxtaposed with tree branches and other plant matter, and presented alongside two photographs of the various gardens encountered by the artist. The exhibition also includes Park’s first work in moving image, in which a clip of a lawn being mowed—that suburban ritual—is repeated to the point of absurdity, rendering futile its attempt at control. With both humour and attention to materials, Park highlights our relationship with and impact upon te taiao, while also celebrating its adaptability and resilience.

Ka whakatōmenetia mā roto i ngā mahi a Sena Park te hononga e kukune tonu ana i waenganui i ngā wāhi i hanga ai te ringa o te tangata me ngā pūnaha hauropi māori, ngā pou e rua nei e tū whakatete ana i tēnei mea te māra tara ā-whare. Mā te toi puni, mā ētahi huarahi peita e whānui ana, mā te toi tārai, mā te hopu whakaahua, mā te toi ata teretere hoki ka huritau ai a I touch the surface, we draw wild beauty i ā te tangata nanaiore ki te tautuhi, ki te panoni rānei i te wairua tūperepere o te taiao i ēnei wāhi tūmataiti. Kua ahu mai ngā mahi toi o tēnei whakaaturanga i tā te ringatoi i kite rā i ngā tini horopaki me ō rātou tūāhuatanga, mai i Tāmaki Makaurau me Paihia i Aotearoa nei, ki Mongōria me Hapani, i a ia e tipiwhenua ana i reira. Arā ngā kānawehi kore kūtoro e iri ana i ngā anga rino, e hua mai ai ētahi kitenga whai taiapa i roto i te wharetoi. Kei te tū tauaro ētahi papanga horihori me ngā taonga tārai ki ētahi peka rākau me ngā otaota, e whakakitea ana i te taha o ngā hopunga whakaahua e rua mō ētahi māra i tūpono ai te ringatoi. Kua whai wāhi hoki i roto i tēnei whakaaturanga te mahi toi ata teretere tuatahi a Park, ki reira tētahi mauti e topengia ai—ko tērā tikanga paenoho ko tērā—e topengia tonu ai, e topengia tonu ai, hoki atu, hoki atu, kia rorohau rā anō te mahi, mā reira tēnei nanaiore ki te whakatuanui i te taiao e noho mūhore ai. Mā tana kanohi hōmiromiro ki ngā rawatoi, mā tētahi wairua pukukata hoki a Park ka miramira ai i tō tātou hononga ki te taiao, ō tātou kawekawe hoki ki tērā, i te wā kotahi ka whakanui hoki ia i te aumangea me te urutau o te taiao.

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Sena Park is a Korean-born New Zealand artist working across painting, mixed media, and installation. Her practice is grounded in analogue, labor-intensive processes and has recently expanded to include sensory media. Park’s work often begins with familiar subjects drawn from surrounding nature, architectural and cultural environments, which she reconfigures into non-functional and deliberately imperfect forms in her installations. Her nomadic studio life shapes the materials, forms, and scale of her work. Park completed an MFA from Elam in 2015. She has since undertaken residencies in Mongolia, Thailand, China, Japan, and New Zealand.

Ko Sena Park tētahi ringatoi o Aotearoa, i whānau mai i Kōrea. Kei te tū ōna waewae i te ao peita, i te ao rawatoi tini, i te ao toi puni hoki. Ko āna he huarahi tōhaunui, he huarahi ā-ringa anake. Waihoki, inā tata nei, kua toro tōna ringa ki te toi tairongo. Arā ōna wā maha ka ahu mai ngā mahi a Park i tētahi taputapu e taunga nei te tangata, nō te taiao, nō te ao hoahoa whare, nō ngā horopaki o te ahurea rānei. Ko tāna he whakawhitiwhiti i ēnei kia kore rā anō ōna āheinga, kia pokapoka, kia takareka hoki. Mā tana noho kōkewa tonu i taupuni rau e tautuhi ngā rawatoi, ngā āhuahanga me te rahi hoki o āna mahi. I oti i a Park tana Tohu Paerua Toi Tōrire i Te Waka Tūhura ki Waipapa Taumata Rau, i 2015.