Currently based in Auckland , New Zealand I completed my undergraduate studies in 1991 at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, Australia and gained an MFA (1st class honours) at Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, in 2002. in 2021 I completed a PhD at Massey University, Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts, under the supervision of Martin Patrick, Heather Galbraith and Huhana Smith. I am a Fine Arts lecturer in the undergraduate program at Whitecliffe in Auckland.
My research is situated in relation to current posthumanist theory, which posits horizontal rather than hierarchical relationships for human/nonhuman cohabitation, my research sets out to test the hypothesis that experiential and participatory art practices can engender new understandings of the everyday relationship of domestication as a site of human/nonhuman interaction. It poses the question; can a practice of unsettling and reframing familiar scenes of domestication elicit understanding that is critical, embodied, imagined and conducive to the notion that humans and nonhumans might coexist on a levelled platform of being? This research posts and set out to test the veracity of a working methodology that deliberately cultivates a hopeful space for imagining and feeling, in tandem with intellectual and informational research. This is a working hypothesis in two parts; firstly, navigating a methodology through which to nurture re-imaging; a research practice I propose as a receptive space of unknowing, A term I call into play to define the ‘mindful fostering of a practice of durational, conceptual and intellectual holding-back from familiar ways of perceiving’.
PhD thesis: Jill Sorensen, Between Elsewhere and Away: Small Acts of Cohabitation
JILL SORENSEN 