Sonja Drake
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  • Exhibitions
    • Waiheke Walker and Hall Art Award
    • Fluidity
    • Casting On, Casting Off
    • This Place - Responses
    • As Above, So Below
    • A Journey Beneath the Surface
    • Ecotones
    • Hyporheic Zone
    • Infinity Mesh
    • Ferric Coruscation
    • Circle
    • Taking a Bearing
    • Wild Places
    • Surface Tension
    • Selected Earlier Works
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As Above, So Below

​The unseen networks - mycelial, alluvial, dendrological, familial, that connect through histories, landscapes and timelines.

Group Exhibition
Railway Street Gallery
16 June – 5 July 2022

Picture
Sprayed Weeds, Te Maketu, (detail), watercolour paint, Canson watercolour paper 300gm, 1520 x 3000mm

Picture
Sprayed Weeds, Te Maketu, watercolour paint and pencil, Canson watercolour paper 300gm, 1520 x 3000mm

The idea for this show began with a conversation about matriarchal rites of passage. Discussion soon morphed into inquiries of ancestral connections and the felt sense of 'me' in relationship with a nature - connected environment. Like the complex root systems of our native and non-native trees, the work in this shared space aims to push beneath the dermis; to be in symbiotic relationship above and below the surface, in conversation with the forces around us.

Picture
Lichen, and Old Growth, watercolour paint, Canson watercolour paper 300gm

My work explores areas where land meets water and the patterns and rhythms of life where water's path flows. Above and below the surface of the land, in the waterways, the aquifers, and the sea, and in the bird, insect, and animal life, there exists a woundedness. Visiting and exploring sites relevant to my settler heritage, my practice ties into processes of colonisation, settling and un-settling.

The Te Maketu Historic Reserve at Ramarama is the site of a Catholic settlers' cemetery and earlier church site, where some of my ancestors are buried lies alongside the Te Maketu Pa site, stream, and waterfall. This site, with its complex and troubled history, is the focus of this body of work.

Picture
As Above, So Below, Installation photo courtesy of Arts Diary
Picture
As Above, So Below, exhibition opening photo courtesy of Arts Diary


© Copyright 2024 Sonja Drake, All Rights Reserved. The images on this website are copyrighted and may not be downloaded or reproduced.
  • Home
  • Exhibitions
    • Waiheke Walker and Hall Art Award
    • Fluidity
    • Casting On, Casting Off
    • This Place - Responses
    • As Above, So Below
    • A Journey Beneath the Surface
    • Ecotones
    • Hyporheic Zone
    • Infinity Mesh
    • Ferric Coruscation
    • Circle
    • Taking a Bearing
    • Wild Places
    • Surface Tension
    • Selected Earlier Works
  • About
  • News
  • PRESS
  • CV
  • Contact