Exhibition preview: Friday 26 February, 5:30pm (pending Alert Level 1)
Exhibition runs: 27 February – 4 April 2021
Exhibition talk with Jamie Hanton and Grace Crothall: Wednesday 3 March, 5:30pm
Grace Crothall’s Shelter House draws on an atmosphere, material textures and sounds familiar to the artist from growing up in the charismatic
pentecostal movement in the 90s. The installation takes its name from a worship song of the era, which plays
intermittently in the space. Crothall explores the interplay between born-again adult and child-like states within this
community of belief, dividing the gallery space in two, and editing together text and design associated with her
experiences of that time. Central to the project are pre-Pixar pop cultural films and biblical narratives such as Jonah
and the whale, as well as Children’s Church teaching resources, where fantastical, uncanny and moral themes intersect
with allusions to the body. References to the gut—medical, scientific, metaphorical—underpin the installation as a
whole, suggesting the ongoing metabolism of, and filtering through belief systems entered in childhood.Artist biography:
Grace Crothall is an Otautahi based multi-disciplinary artist. She graduated from Ilam School of Fine Arts in 2019. For Shelter House Crothall has worked alongside Priscilla Rose Howe (design) and Mitchell Bright (photography). With thanks to Cameron
Gray, Florence Claridge, Phil Jackson and Ben Dodd.