A WORK ABOUT THE HOUSING CRISIS WITH AN INDOOR OUTDOOR FLOW - Coming home
By Heleyni Pratley
Location: Various Te Aro precinct
A social practice, projected installation artwork for people in Te Whanganui A Tara, presented in April 2024 along the Courtney Place & Cuba Mall precincts, accompanied by in person interviews at 113 Taranaki Street.
Across the two week period, Heleyni aims to acknowledge community, love, grief, and hope by way of the indoor, the outdoor, and the flow. Armed with a stack of interviews & opinions from her 2022 activation, Heleyni is looking to add to this, by hearing people's updates as to where we are at in terms of our communities housing needs. Her housing bubble sculpture will then be running hour-long open projected video sessions, across the two weeks, sharing citizens' views.
“Like the ‘Doomsday Clock’, this art work takes a collective ‘temperature check’ of the state of housing in Aotearoa and looks at what we can do about it. This is a response to the continuing housing crisis in Aotearoa as it stands in 2024 according to everyday people, who are willing to generously share with me, recording & reflecting on the state of housing at present. The pain is felt by our communities & becoming more and more visible in our streets, school car parks & foodbanks throughout the country.” . Artist Heleyni Pratley
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.
ALL IMAGES: NICHOLE JUNE PRODUCTIONS
