Emily O’Hara has produced twelve Lightboxes (resembling a standard picture frame), and Window Gallery are currently looking for a temporary home (and host) for each lightbox from winter to summer solstice.
Hosts must:
- Be located in Tāmaki Makaurau
- Have permission to position or hang a lightbox facing North in their domestic residence
- Be willing for the artist to visit their home for installation and removal
In late December 2024, the lightboxes will be collected and the works they contain will be prepared for exhibition in Window Gallery in early 2025.
Email whenthesunstandsstill@gmail.
About the project
When the sun stands still takes the solstice as a starting point to explore notions of extended duration. The word solstice describes the two points of the year during which the sun is at the greatest distance from the equator, each giving us the longest night or day of the year. In Aotearoa in 2024, winter solstice occurs on 21 June, and summer solstice on 21 Dec.
In domestic spaces, sunlight is something that we orientate ourselves around. Houses in Aotearoa often prioritise a North facing position in order to maximise the benefits of the sun. But what is the face of a house? How does our house help us face the light, both literally and poetically? What are the benefits of facing this light, feeling its warmth and understanding its duration from solstice to solstice? How aware are each of us as to the orientation of the spaces we occupy, and the impact that has on our everyday life and existence? Through this work, celestial rhythms are brought into relation with the rhythms and routines of everyday life, such as; opening and closing curtains, doors and windows, sitting with tea on a porch or deck, waiting for enough sun to be able to mow the lawns or harvest the garden, knowing which walls face which way, understanding the creep of shadows from winter solstice to summer solstice, being in different attunement with sunlight in our living space.
About the artist
Emily O’Hara is a spatial practitioner who’s interdisciplinary practice emerges through extended duration works, particularly in relation to the rhythms and repetitions of life and death. She explores ideas of the feminine, the maternal and the domestic interior, and how the everyday offers a space through which to consider inter-generational and inter-spatial connection.
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