Abigail Aroha Jensen Is Awarded The 2025 Residency For An Artist From Aotearoa New Zealand At Gasworks, London
Abigail is interested in the repetition and stagnation of culture, images, language, motifs and sound, and how mauri (life force) may transfer between the object and the body. Her work is often site-specific and responds to desolate land sites, fantasy worlds, 'the archive', and local histories related to labour, colonial entanglements and online habitats. Abigail's studio practice involves harvesting and weaving with harakeke (flax) and other found materials, rope making, drawing, painting, screen printing, sound, installation and improvisation. These ways of making demand a sustained repetition of specific gestures, which in turn influence visual and sonic artworks.
During her residency at Gasworks, she plans to spend time developing her research around mauri, collecting materials, foraging for new flora and fauna and sketching in the studio. She will also visit and document sites of interest to compose the score for her first film, NZ Forever.
Abigail lives in Ngāruawāhia, Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand. Recent exhibitions include: Rope Play, (a series of acts), sites across Aotearoa including; Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Pōneke Wellington, Heretaunga Hastings, Ōtepōti Dunedin, Ōtautahi Christchurch, Kirikiriroa Hamilton, Köln, Germany and the Busan, South Korea (2022- present); Spring Time is Heart-break: Contemporary Art in Aotearoa, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū (2023); Glittering Images, Grace Aotearoa (2024); I nside my papahou: puoro tuatin i. H er site, Désirée – ā whakamātao owha co- commissioned by Te Tuhi and the Busan Biennale Organising Committee, South Korea; (2024) cab-sous vide, The Dowse Art Museum, (2024) What thrives on these soils, at Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga, Hastings Art Gallery, and Bootleg, The Physics Room, Ōtautahi Christchurch, (2025).
About the residency
The Gasworks residency offers an early / mid-career artist, opportunities for self -led professional development, artistic exchange and experimentation and development of new international networks, and as such can be significant for the advancement of their career. Alongside the time for extensive practice-based research and access to artists in London with similar interests, Gasworks provides opportunities for the artist to develop new work and showcase their practice, work ethic and conceptual focuses to an international audience, including curators and collectors, unavailable in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The residency provides return flights to London, 24/7-access to a private studio space in the Gasworks building, accommodation in a house shared with three or four other international artists in residence with Gasworks, plus living and materials allowance.
The critical nature at the heart of Gasworks encourages the fostering of active dialogues with local creative practitioners, including artists, curators and writers, as well as direct engagement with important London-based artist-run spaces, collectives, galleries, museums, patrons and collectors.
The three-month, fully funded residency will take place from October – December 2024 and is delivered through a partnership between Gasworks, the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust and the Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa. The 2025 residency is made possible by the very generous support of individuals and trusts, including the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust, Jenny and Andrew Smith, Shirley-Ann and Rick Mannering, Dame Jenny Gibbs, Bath Street Arts Trust, Tim Melville and Rosemary and Tim Auld.
This will be the ninth consecutive Gasworks Residency for a NZ artist. Previous artists in residence at Gasworks are Sriwhana Spong, Katrina Beekhuis, Hikalu Clarke, Christina Pataialii, Sarah Rose, Campbell Patterson, Sorawit Songsataya and Shiraz Sadikeen.
About Gasworks
Established in 1994, Gasworks is a non-profit contemporary visual art organisation working between UK and international practices, offering a cohesive space of critical dialogue and studio-driven practices. Gasworks run a highly respected international residency program offering artists the opportunity to research new work in London. Events, workshops and open-studio events are organised to engage the wider community, as well to provide the resident artists an opportunity to develop and expand their professional networks. Through Gasworks, curator and patron visits ensure that the artists are provided with an active landscape to ensure the exposure of their artistic practices.
About Jan Warburton Charitable Trust
The Jan Warburton Charitable Trust (JWCT) was established by Dunedin based collector and philanthropist, Jan Warburton, to support the development of contemporary art in Aotearoa New Zealand, with a particular focus on late-emerging and mid-career artists.
The residency for a New Zealand artist at Gasworks was developed by the Trust in 2016 and has been supported over the years by a number of individuals. Without their continuing generosity, the residency would not be possible.
About Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa
The Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa (OCAA) works in partnership with other organisations and individuals, both from New Zealand and internationally to enable and facilitate the presentation of work by New Zealand artists at major overseas exhibitions; and to encourage exchange and dialogue between visual arts practitioners from New Zealand and their international counterparts. OCAA was formed in early 2024 and is based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Prior to the formation of OCAA, OCAA's director, Stephanie Post worked with Gasworks and the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust to develop the residency. OCAA is delighted to continue this work fundraising for and facilitating the annual residency at Gasworks and is extremely grateful to all those who support the funding of the residency.
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These ways of making demand a sustained repetition of specific gestures, which in turn influence visual and sonic artworks. During her residency at Gasworks, she plans to spend time developing her research around mauri, collecting materials, foraging for new flora and fauna and sketching in the studio. She will also visit and document sites of interest to compose the score for her first film, NZ Forever. Abigail lives in Ngāruawāhia, Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand. Recent exhibitions include: Rope Play, (a series of acts), sites across Aotearoa including; Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, Pōneke Wellington, Heretaunga Hastings, Ōtepōti Dunedin, Ōtautahi Christchurch, Kirikiriroa Hamilton, Köln, Germany and the Busan, South Korea (2022- present); Spring Time is Heart-break: Contemporary Art in Aotearoa, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū (2023); Glittering Images, Grace Aotearoa (2024); I nside my papahou: puoro tuatin i. 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About Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa The Office for Contemporary Art Aotearoa (OCAA) works in partnership with other organisations and individuals, both from New Zealand and internationally to enable and facilitate the presentation of work by New Zealand artists at major overseas exhibitions; and to encourage exchange and dialogue between visual arts practitioners from New Zealand and their international counterparts. OCAA was formed in early 2024 and is based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Prior to the formation of OCAA, OCAA's director, Stephanie Post worked with Gasworks and the Jan Warburton Charitable Trust to develop the residency. OCAA is delighted to continue this work fundraising for and facilitating the annual residency at Gasworks and is extremely grateful to all those who support the funding of the residency.
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