Steven Junil Park 박준일’s Ōtautahi Christchurch
Steven Junil Park 박준일, The Wind in My Garment, 2023, Film Still, exhibited at Season Aotearoa. Image courtesy of the artist.
Steven Junil Park 박준일’s Guide to Ōtautahi Christchurch
Steven Junil Park 박준일 is a Korean-born and Ōtautahi Christchurch-based multidisciplinary artist who works under the label ‘6x4’. Park draws on a degree from Elam School of Fine Arts to inform a lovingly tactile practice focused on craft and functional objects, aspects he sees as an essential way of connecting to our humanity. Within his diverse oeuvre, textile reoccurs amongst carving, working for Comme des Garçons in Paris, and a collaboration with glass artist Jark Pane on a limited edition perfume for his first solo exhibition at Season.
During the Aotearoa Art Fair 2025, Park has contributed to multiple sites throughout Tāmaki Makaurau. Including artworks in the emotive exhibition PUPURITIA – curated by Melanie Tangaere Baldwin at Objectspace; costume and set-design for Speed is Emotional, a high voltage comedic solo performance at the Q Theatre; and works exhibited by Public Record, a shop and gallery on Ponsonby Road also presenting at the fair.
Installation view of PUPURITIA: Storytelling and Contemporary Textiles, 5 April - 1June 2025 at Objectspace, 13 Rose Road Ponsonby, photograph by Sam Hartnett
Art Guides World are honoured to speak to Park, a creative with a diverse range of collaborators and a hands-on approach, about what fills his cup throughout Ōtautahi. As the largest city in Aotearoa’s Te Waipounamu South Island, Ōtautahi is a recognised cultural hub with a raised international awareness since the 2010-2011 earthquakes.
☉ As an artist working with textile, surely you have a favorite arts, craft, or fashion boutique?
I am very excited about Te Wā, a recently established community space for experimental arts. I also love Natural Hand in Ōhinehou Lyttelton. It’s a small boutique run by my dear friend and one of my favourite designers in the country, Ella Van Beynen (Evan Beijnen). It’s in a little room in the British Hotel which also holds the open-by-appointment popup space for NG Boutique which is also very dear to my heart, stocking work from a bunch of local artists and designers, including my own work. I always like going to Frances Nation to see what local artisans are making, and I am excited by the Green Room, an artist-run space that has recently popped up!
☉ What places throughout the city provide to your creative community?
I like how the galleries provide spaces for people to gather at openings and events: CoCA, the Physics Room, The Green Room, The National, Objectspace [at Sir Miles Warren Gallery], Fibre gallery, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, among others. Astro lounge and Frances Nation Grocer are watering holes where people gather after or before events to chat and hang out, which is great for making connections and building community. I’m also super excited for and grateful to Te Wā, Browntown, and other projects that hold space for community building.
☉ What are some of the most inspiring places for you in Ōtautahi?
I love swimming at New Brighton Beach at sunrise. It gives me a lot of energy and helps me feel connected to part of the larger cycles of the planet, especially when I’m spending a lot of time in the studio. I also love the redzone, which is very close to my house: it’s a big stretch of land that was cleared of houses after the earthquakes. It feels like my backyard where I can go walking, running, and foraging for materials and food.
I also love the hills, looking down over the city, watching the sun set in the distance. I’ve done a lot of photoshoots in these places. I learn a lot from them; they are places of solace and reflection for me. They are landmarks that help me anchor the things I’m experiencing to physical places.
Image credits in order of appearance: (1) Steven Junil Park 박준일, Jogak Lightshade (Square, Abstract and Cylinder) (top left), 2023 in Living Room with The National, 7 Oct – 10 Dec 2023 at Objectspace at Sir Miles Warren Gallery, Ōtautahi Christchurch, photograph by Natalie Bascand. (2) Objectspace at Sir Miles Warren Gallery, Ōtautahi Christchurch, photograph by Natalie Bascand (3,4,5,6) Images courtesy of Steven Junil Park 박준일 (7) Installation view of PUPURITIA: Storytelling and Contemporary Textiles, 5 April - 1June 2025 at Objectspace, 13 Rose Road Ponsonby, photograph by Sam Hartnett (8,9) Steven Junil Park, Asians Supporting Tino Rangatiratanga ramie flag with carved fist and bamboo pole, 2024, in PUPURITIA: Storytelling and Contemporary Textiles, 5 April - 1 June 2025 at Objectspace, 13 Rose Road Ponsonby, photograph by Sam Hartnett (10) Steven Junil Park 박준일 and Jark Pane at Season Aotearoa (11) Installation view of Steven Junil Park 박준일’s The Wind in My Garment, 2023 at Season Aotearoa.
