Rumours (Mermaid)

Rumours (Mermaid)

Originally developed for the Govett-Brewster’s Open Window gallery, Rumours (Mermaid) examines animal–cultural fluidity and hybrid forms through the mythical figure of the mermaid. A digitally modelled half-human, half-fish character sits inside a scene that is part ocean floor, part photo-studio set surrounded by various kinds of rocks and minerals, books, fossils, shells and corals relating to Songsataya’s research into Taranaki’s ecological and geographic histories.

Hanging in a frame above the mermaid’s head is a photograph of Paritūtū Rock and Ngā Motu Sugar Loaf Islands, landmarks representative of the oldest volcanic activity on the Taranaki Peninsula and home to diverse marine and mineral species. First occupied by Ngāti Te Whiti, the area was blasted and mined in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries—a process which involved quarrying Paritūtū and the rocks which can be seen at its base in this photograph.

Songsataya’s practice explores the many tangential elements connecting and redefining our understandings of subjectivity and ecology. A concern with the distance and difference humans construct between themselves and the natural world is reflected in the work’s title, Rumours (Mermaid), which gestures toward the potential of becoming together with (rather than against) nature. Songsataya’s hybrid subject sits in the space between—or beyond—reality and fiction, and actively encourages us to bring our own perspectives to bear on any reading of the work.

— Hanahiva Rose, 2021