Sonya Lacey

Sonya Lacey’s research-led practice often looks to historic or real-world reference points – moments anchored to a specific site, time or context. Through her process of translating and transforming materials and ideas, her projects culminate in a conceptual space where fact is inseparable from fiction. Underpinning many of Lacey’s projects is an interest in publishing and its material culture. It is a framework that encompasses materials and objects, language, architecture, editorial and technological processes, labour and gender politics.

As the Dunedin Public Art Gallery’s 2021 Aotearoa New Zealand Visiting Artist, Lacey spent 12-weeks on residency in Ōtepoti Dunedin developing a new body work towards the exhibition Totally Dark. As a starting point, she was interested in the notion of rest within the context of labour – asking the question ‘what would the unit of a day look like if it was disentangled from clock time?’ Across the works Lacey uses language, editing, and transitions in materiality and scale to create an exhibition experience that explores and redefines time scales, chronological markers, circadian drift and physiological processes. 

The artist wishes to thank Robert Keyzers at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University Wellington, the Sleep/Wake Research Centre at Massey University and Otago Museum.

A Dunedin Public Art Gallery Visiting Artist Project supported by Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa and project partner, Dunedin School of Art.

View the exhibition labels – click here

Following is a link to a Q+A session between artist, Sonya Lacey and curator, Lucy Hammonds...