Selina Shanti Woulfe

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."

-Selina Shanti Woulfe, 2015

English/Irish/Samoan
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 has been 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 

"Selina Woulfe's performances erase the distance between jewellery and the body."

"Woulfe's work evolves out of the brooch, which is conventionally attached to clothing. It's radical nature seems to be in circumventing this layer, evoking a nakedness more bare than nudity."

- Dr Kevin Murray, Bodies aren't forever. Embodied exhibition catalogue. 2014