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or five years I was like a modern-day nomad, living in New York and Berlin. This bronze cast replica of the Venus of Willendorf is one of the precious objects I took with me on that journey, connecting me back to my mother and to my sense of home. Now I keep her on my windowsill, so it’s something I see every day. The Venus is a literal touchstone to me, small enough to hold in one hand. The original is housed in the Natural History Museum in Vienna and was made [from limestone] around 25,000 years old.I find it beyond fascinating that this totem has time-travelled from the past and that we can hold her in the present — and potentially she’ll travel into the future as a pop icon. A few months ago, I saw that Mattel has made a replica of her as Barbie, which is so absurd but also kind of awesome because there are all these issues around female idealism. My mother [the artist Maree Horner] gifted her to me when I was in my early teens as a kind of female power symbol. I was a 1970s child with a 1970s mother who brought me up to believe girls could do anything. I’m definitely a feminist-plus. I’m also very sentimental. I own all my teeth from my childhood — I didn’t give any to the tooth fairy — so I’m an archivist from way back.The Venus is important to me because she makes me think outside of my lifetime
‘Mattel has made a replica of her as Barbie, which is so absurd but also kind of awesome because there are all these issues around female idealism.’
and immediately connects in relation to digital platforms. I made an event on Auckland me to a greater sense of time Live’s digital stage that played as and space. In my ceramics a video piece. It had a soundtrack and clay work, I’m interested in and I animated some of the pieces touch and human trace, and how it affects history geomorphically. so it became quite kaleidoscopic. It was like a rave, actually. It also Objects tell our times and stories, —Teresa Peters presents some challenges that are and can hold such collective cultural significance.Another layer of connection part of the work because it’s been made in here for me is what I call my German fairy tales. response to the climate crisis, about how we should live in ourselves, what our objects are and how they Some of the people who are pivotal to my life, including are archived and carried through time. We’re all in this my partner [film-maker Florian Habicht] who’s Austrocrisis together and maybe it’s asking some important German, and my grandmother, who’s Croatian, come from a similar area to where the Venus was found. My questions. work operates in a contemporary ceramic context, with — as told to Joanna Wane layers into fine art. It’s quite mad, but on the other hand, it’s quite formal. I am so in love with clay. When it dries Northland-based artist Teresa Peters won it changes energy — almost like witnessing the process the 2021 Premier Portage Ceramic Award with of life and death in nature. For the past six years, I’ve ECHOES, a photograph of a clay collection she really put my head down and been committed to my created for DISASTROUSFORMS.COM, an online exhibition inspired by a trip to Pompeii and Auckland practice in an emerging artist kind of way; it’s not all easy and it takes quite a lot of perseverance and trust. Museum’s Natural History Collections Online. Work When I got funding from Creative New Zealand to make by all the award finalists is on show at Auckland’s Te the Disastrous Forms project during lockdown last year, Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery until February it sparked some exciting avenues for my ceramic work 27, 2022.
Northlandbased artist Teresa Peters and the bronze replica of the Venus of Willendorf. PHOTOS / FLORIAN HABICHT, SUPPLIED
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Terms and Conditions: Offer valid for up to two adults in a Grand Room at The Grand by SkyC City or a Premium m Room at SkyCity y Hotel for bookings until 28 February 2022 for stays until 31 March 2022, subject to availability. Close-out dates may apply. SkyCity Unlocked Members will save an additional 10% discount on the overall package price. All package elements must be redeemed at the time of the booking and cannot be redeemed or exchanged for cash. You will be responsible for all incidental charges and costs, including travel to and from the hotel and all in-room hotel services provided throughout your stay. R18 for the service of alcohol. Host Responsibility limits apply. Dining voucher is an inclusion in the package and is not exchangeable or redeemable for cash. The voucher can be used for food and/or non-alcoholic beverages at any restaurant, bar or cafe at SkyCity Auckland (as applicable). No change will be given if your bill is less than the given amount which must be used before 31 March 2022. We strongly recommend booking your preferred restaurant in advance to ensure you get your preferred dates and times.
