Virginia King

Virginia King Hinaki, 2019

Marine Grade, 316 Stainless Steel, each 1500 x 1500 x 3500 mm approx.

The three sculptures are interactive and an onward exploration of universal fish-trap forms. While the installation represents the gathering of food and survival, sit also refers to entrapment and loss. My aspiration is that by the development and abstraction of the forms to allow physical entry and entrapment, the viewer may consider the outcome of current global unsustainable fishing practices and their environmental impact. The works are conceived as an assemblage of three tall Hinaki forms with portals, alluding to captivity, containment and release.

Each work in the Hinaki installation can be experienced in a different way:

  • The first artwork has a crawl hole into the space, with an internal space just large enough to sit in.
  • The second Hinaki has two apertures and may be walked through, entered and exited with care.
  • The third artwork has two keyhole slots of different intensities of constraint for visitors to edge or slide through.

Virginia King

Born Kawakawa Northland. Lives and works in Auckland and on Waiheke Island.

Over the past three decades I have created a diverse range of site-specific sculpture, commissioned for public locations and private collectors. Major commissions include Willinga Plume, Canberra Airport and Reed Vessel, Melbourne Docklands. Public footbridges include Rewarewa Creek and Aramarama Millennium in Auckland.

My Vessel forms have become symbols of exploration and migration, of nurturing and protection, symbols of life and survival. The objective of these works is to bring to the attention of the viewer the fragility of our environment and the global need for stewardship and conservation. To be invited by the European Cultural Centre to exhibit during the Venice Biennale, 2019 is a powerful affirmation of the direction my work has taken. King has been awarded People’s Choice at SOTG Waiheke Island with Phantom Fleet 2017, Radiolaria 2013, Nautilus Whispers 2007 and Matiatia Frond 2003.

virginiakingsculptor.com