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Comfort Zone: Sorawit Songsataya

201 Eastbourne St East, Hastings

Focusing on the kōtuku and their only nesting grounds in Aotearoa New Zealand, Comfort Zone explores the limits of human understanding, and the distances we put between ourselves and other species.

Also known as the white heron or Eastern great egret Ardea alba modesta, the kōtuku is an intriguing bird with multiple identities, commonly found in tropical and temperate regions. In Thailand, the artist’s country of birth, they are often seen in rice fields but in Aotearoa they are an endangered species at the limit of their geographic and climatic range. The whakataukī “he kōtuku rerenga tahi”, “a kōtuku of a single flight”, is attributed to a rare event and honoured guests that seldom visit, as the bird is not often seen.

Songsataya has woven together footage of nesting kōtuku with images and animations exploring proximities between the human, non-human, and celestial. The artist has juxtaposed the tiny filaments of feathers, seen under an electron microscope, with birds flying high among pinprick stars and ladders reaching between faraway planets – bridging the incomprehensible distances and shifting scales of the universe. An accompanying voiceover subverts any expectations of a narrated “nature documentary”. Instead, responses to a series of open-ended questions seem to test a fundamental sense of connection and belonging within the natural world.

Sorawit Songsataya is a multimedia artist, currently based between Aotearoa and London.
After recently completing the 2022 Frances Hodgkins fellowship in Ōtepoti Dunedin, Songsataya is currently undertaking an artist residency at Gasworks London. Over the past decade, Songsataya has developed an active multi-disciplinary practice which has been exhibited and collected by nationally and internationally significant public galleries and art spaces.

Voiceover by Awa Puna (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairoa). The artist would like to acknowledge hapū of Kāti Māhaki ki Makaawhio as kaitiaki of the rohe where the kōtuku nest.

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When

Sun 1st Oct 2023, 1:00pm

Mon 2nd Oct 2023, 10:00am

Tue 3rd Oct 2023, 10:00am

Wed 4th Oct 2023, 10:00am

Thu 5th Oct 2023, 10:00am

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Sun 8th Oct 2023, 1:00pm

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Wed 11th Oct 2023, 10:00am

Thu 12th Oct 2023, 10:00am

Fri 13th Oct 2023, 10:00am

Sat 14th Oct 2023, 10:00am

Sun 15th Oct 2023, 1:00pm

Mon 16th Oct 2023, 10:00am

Tue 17th Oct 2023, 10:00am

Wed 18th Oct 2023, 10:00am

Thu 19th Oct 2023, 10:00am

Fri 20th Oct 2023, 10:00am

Sat 21st Oct 2023, 10:00am

Sun 22nd Oct 2023, 1:00pm

Mon 23rd Oct 2023, 10:00am

Tue 24th Oct 2023, 10:00am

Wed 25th Oct 2023, 10:00am

Thu 26th Oct 2023, 10:00am

Fri 27th Oct 2023, 10:00am

Sat 28th Oct 2023, 10:00am

Sun 29th Oct 2023, 1:00pm

Mon 30th Oct 2023, 10:00am

Tue 31st Oct 2023, 10:00am

Wed 1st Nov 2023, 10:00am

Thu 2nd Nov 2023, 10:00am

Fri 3rd Nov 2023, 10:00am

Sat 4th Nov 2023, 10:00am

Sun 5th Nov 2023, 1:00pm

Mon 6th Nov 2023, 10:00am

Tue 7th Nov 2023, 10:00am

Wed 8th Nov 2023, 10:00am

Thu 9th Nov 2023, 10:00am

Fri 10th Nov 2023, 10:00am

Sat 11th Nov 2023, 10:00am

Sun 12th Nov 2023, 1:00pm

Mon 13th Nov 2023, 10:00am

Tue 14th Nov 2023, 10:00am

Wed 15th Nov 2023, 10:00am

Thu 16th Nov 2023, 10:00am

Fri 17th Nov 2023, 10:00am

Sat 18th Nov 2023, 10:00am

Sun 19th Nov 2023, 1:00pm

Mon 20th Nov 2023, 10:00am

Tue 21st Nov 2023, 10:00am

Wed 22nd Nov 2023, 10:00am

Thu 23rd Nov 2023, 10:00am

Fri 24th Nov 2023, 10:00am

Sat 25th Nov 2023, 10:00am

Where

Hastings City Art Gallery, Hastings, Hawke's Bay / Gisborne

201 Eastbourne St East, Hastings