Artist Statement
"I’m
interested
in the
social,
cultural,
and
religious
rituals
surrounding
the
body,
and
the
objects
used
to
conduct
them. In
the
true
sense
of
fetish,
they
are
inanimate
objects
revered
for
their
significance
or
spiritual
power.
Within my practice I experiment with the haptic qualities of different materials and use the skin as a sensory material to be explored and tested. Artistically I strive to create jewellery objects that form a dialogue between the body and the mind in order to achieve a physical and psychological level of awareness for the wearer/viewer.
I often use my skin and body to experience and test my jewellery; challenging my own identity and drawing inspiration from the cultural rituals of my mixed European/Polynesian heritage."
Within my practice I experiment with the haptic qualities of different materials and use the skin as a sensory material to be explored and tested. Artistically I strive to create jewellery objects that form a dialogue between the body and the mind in order to achieve a physical and psychological level of awareness for the wearer/viewer.
I often use my skin and body to experience and test my jewellery; challenging my own identity and drawing inspiration from the cultural rituals of my mixed European/Polynesian heritage."
-Selina Shanti Felix-Woulfe
English/Irish/Samoan/Tokelauan/Wallis Islander
b. Auckland, New Zealand
b. Auckland, New Zealand
Biography
Selina Woulfe is a New Zealand Contemporary Jewellery artist who studied at Unitec's department of Contemporary Jewellery from 2005-2009. Woulfe’s practice explores the body and its politics through radical concepts whilst utilizing traditional metalsmithing techniques. The often psychological and confrontational elements of her work are balanced by the intricate construction and fragile aesthetic of the jewellery objects themselves. After being selected for Objectspace Gallery’s Best in Show in 2009, Woulfe has gone on to exhibit in New Zealand, Australia and USA. She has work held in The James Wallace Arts Trust Collection and was recently included in the publications, Scope Art Journal: Border Crossings #7 and On Jewellery: A Compendium of International Contemporary Art Jewellery, by Dutch art historian Liesbeth den Besten.
"Although the forms of Selina Woulfe's grafts are inspired by the mesh and fragile pattern of the human skin, the antagonism between body and decoration was never illustrated more effectively."
- Liesbeth den Besten, On Jewellery. Arnoldsche Publishers, Germany 2011