A Work About The Housing Crisis With An Indoor-Outdoor Flow
by Heleyni Pratley
Date: October/November 2022
Location: 106 Courtenay Place, Readings Complex
Media: RNZ interview on Standing Room Only with Lynn Freeman
Stuff article: Opening up conversation about the housing crisis through new artwork
The public of Wellington were invited to be part of the art in “A Work About The Housing Crisis With An Indoor-Outdoor Flow”.
Heleyni Pratley’s immersive work carved out a space in Wellington city, where the complexities of the housing crisis were explored and feelings shared via collective art making, discussion, reflection and sharing.
The work acknowledged community, love, grief, and hope by way of the indoor, the outdoor, and the flow. The public entered the indoor ‘Housing Crisis Community Reflection & Assessment Centre’ where Pratley invited participation in a video interview and share your thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams and dilemmas about the housing crisis.
Pratley embodied ‘Flow’ curating, editing, and preparing the interviews into a looping video reel to be projected back at the community. The video work was then projected onto the ‘Housing Bubble Sculpture’ a stunning Dadaesque result, with its honest soundtrack, for the passing community to enjoy.
Heleyni Pratley is a Pōneke based Aotearoa/Greek conceptual artist working in video, drawing, painting, sculpture, and performance.
The core concepts of her work question the mechanics of our economic system and how it influences what we value.
Alongside her art practice Pratley campaigns for social change, having worked as a Union organiser for fast food and Zero Hour contract workers. She is currently active in local housing and climate change movements.
