(Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, She/Her)

Antibody. 2024

nylon, nylon sutures, polyester

Like our immune system, this work concerns itself with responding to danger. In protecting us, an overzealous immune reaction to the foreign can cause harm. Antibody embodies this double- edged sword. Cutting, piercing, and pinching cooperate with soft, cushioning textiles. Synthetic materials that have the capacity to repair and preserve, also block and pollute. This work acts as my response to inflamed and increasingly polarised environments, stitching binaries closer. For me, inbetweeness is not a position of apathy but rather one of anticipatory alertness, ready to respond when a threshold is met - an acquired immune reaction. 

For Siobhan, sculpture is a practice of whakapapa-building through the simple act of joining materials. Foregrounding whakapapa as a practice feels more imperative than ever in 2025 where our own relationships to one another and to te taiao feel more uncertain and at risk. Siobhan sees it as her responsibility to engage in realigning and restoring a relationship of wellness within our connections - as whakapapa demands an intrinsic obligation to uphold harmonious relations. In her art practice this takes the form of challenging assumed knowledge, established material hierarchies, or simply asserting her identity as Māori.