Deb Donnelly, is a New Zealand artist and educator who lives on the Kapiti Coast. Her inter-disciplinary art works have been exhibited nationally and internationally as a materials based artist, building on international artist residencies to expand concepts into public art applications....
Read MoreDeb Donnelly, is a New Zealand artist and educator who lives on the Kapiti Coast. Her inter-disciplinary art works have been exhibited nationally and internationally as a materials based artist, building on international artist residencies to expand concepts into public art applications. In this time of COVID-19 pandemic Donnelly is grateful to share migrant issues on this arts platform to remind us of the connections that define humanity.
Winner of 2020 YICCA international contemporary contest of art Milan, and semi-finalist in Wallace Art Awards New Zealand. Donnelly is an interdisciplinary installation artist and curator collaborating with social arts practice, visual artists, filmmakers and carvers. Donnelly uses auto-ethnography, a stepped self narrative that critiques the situatedness of self with others in social, cultural and environmental contexts. Current works connect inter-generational migrant stories to social arts participation or whanaungatanga meaning a sense of 'kinship'. A Place at the Kauri Table explores visual media and stories of mixed heritage in the Aotearoa context. Donnelly invites audience interaction via AR technology; to pause and construct their own responses as part of the participatory installation. By linking Aotearoa NZ placed myths and legends with personal narrative this placement creates a platform for the audience to 'shift places' and engage with wider arts forums and communities. Donnelly uses her roles as educator, curator and art and design practitioner to conceive works that revolve around the notion of catalytic change in self, place and cultural migration as part of transformative social well-being experiences. Materials and artefacts record the migrant stories as a vulnerable starting point; with local narratives and global issues traced into site specific spaces.
