Sefton Rani
YEAR OF RESIDENCY
January - April 2025
Sefton Rani is a self-taught artist of Cook Island heritage who lives and works in Tāmaki. He has had an ongoing practice for over a decade, exhibiting and engaging with a range of galleries and public institutions across Aotearoa.
Rani's work is an investigation into Pasifika identity within the context of working class and industrial Auckland. He explores the materiality of paint, experimenting with the boundaries between painting, sculpture, carving, and heritage art through process-driven works that capture the physicality of his mark making methods and reference a history of labour and cultural production.
Sefton's time at Parehuia will mark a transformational point in his career as an artist. After his home and studio were destroyed by cyclone Gabrielle in 2023, he was forced to adapt and develop his work in response to these changed circumstances. Displacement, both physically and spiritually, becoming a key narrative. During his residency, Rani intends to further extend these ideas into a new, unified direction and body of work.