Exhibition Three, 6 June – 4 July 2025
Artist: Sarah-Jane Blake
The diorama installed at Nikau Superette imagines the dreams and fears of the building and perhaps its occupants. The shop is in threat of being displaced by the large malls/shopping centres/supermarkets. It is being pulled up by a large shiny developer’s balloon. Crossing an unreal sky of blue and fluffy clouds and heading for a ‘better world’ its drop lines (roots) claw towards the ground. As we shift further into a monopolised, homogenised and digital world the emotions of the building perhaps reflect the feelings inside of us – attempting to hold onto the important values of our past and being drawn towards ‘progress’ and new technology with unease. Our humanity and landscapes are swiftly shifting. Can our roots grow strong, in new and wonderful ways, amongst this onslaught of change?
Sarah-Jane Blake is an experimental artist, performance designer and deviser. She is interested in how new technologies and art can find alternative ways of seeing and explore different dimensions of creative thought. Her work investigates dark and macabre themes with a surreal humour and naive aesthetic. She seduces the viewer into an unexpected world with underlying currents of a bizarre and menacing nature. The decline of the environment is a strong theme throughout her work. Miniature worlds enable her to, with child’s play, control environments and look on our systems from alternative perspectives.