ANI O'NEILL

As a site specific, installation and performance based artist, Ani graduated from Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts in 1994

Rainbow Country

 and was quickly identified as one of the nations bright new art talents. Ani’s work is infused with a playful urban vitality and conceptual edge which saw her immediate inclusion into exhibitions such as The Nervous System, Telecom Prospect, Bottled Ocean, and Brisbane’s Asia/Pacific Art Triennial and attributed to her status as a pioneer in Aotearoa’s Contemporary Pacific Arts.

Using wool, recycled plastic bags or items from discount outlets and opportunity shops, Ani makes objects which draw on traditional Cook Island handcraft skills to communicate the cultural values and teachings of her Cook Island Grandmother and their importance today. In this, her work embodies numerous issues- Post Colonialism, the environment, identity politics, institutional hierarchies, consumerism, world peace etc.

ei line, 2002

 Described as an ‘artistic provocateur’ and 'change agent’ whose work is ‘thought provoking and highly original’ (Isha Welsh), a unique and subversive aspect of Ani's practise lies in her ability to break down the barriers between people and art-world institutions, often creating an ‘awareness’ and a sense of community through cultural exchange and connective experience rather than pushing any individual statement. This has attributed to her growing International profile and status.

In recent years, Ani has spent an increasing amount of the travelling between her new home in Rarotonga (Cook Is) and Auckland New Zealand. A current focus has been the development of works/projects which can grow project to project and adapt to tour like the ‘Kikau Broom project’, a school fundraiser, reviving local craft which has become an exhibition itself and a component in numerous exhibitions throughout 2006; projects for 2006 are: Islanded (The Kikau Broom Project) - Contemporary Art from New Zealand, Singapore and Taiwan -

Wellington, High Tide - Zacheta National Gallery of Art, Poland and The Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania, Melbourne Commonwealth Games Festival, Arc One Gallery, 'The Buddy System' Cambridge (UK), 'Pasifika Styles Cambridge University Museum of Anthropology and Archeology, Vaka Eiva The Art Studio- Rarotonga

Buddy System, 2001	Buddy System, detail, 2001

Ani is represented by Sue Crockford Gallery, New Zealand and The Mori Gallery Sydney, Australia.