Meet our 2023 By Whakatū Residency recipients

We’re proud to announce Kat Beyle and Keren Oertly as our 2023 By Whakatū Residency Programme recipients!

Kat Beyle is a documentary photographer originally from Chile. Now based in Whakatū after extensive travels, Kat loves community-based work and is passionate about creating documentaries and connecting with people from diverse cultures and realities. She is the founder of Wiphala Studio – Photographs with a social conscience, inspired by her South American roots.

For her residency, Kat is working on APRICITY | The Warmth of the Sun in Winter – a photo documentary about permanent residents living in campgrounds around Whakatū. “I aim to connect with several residents in different campgrounds, capturing portraits of them and their homes, while also interviewing them about their personal stories and reasons for choosing to reside in campgrounds. This is a work in progress, and I am incredibly grateful for every person who has been involved in this process, opening the doors of their homes and sharing their stories with me,” says Kat.

Born in Huiterangi, Switzerland, Keren Oertly is a visual artist based in Whakatū, exploring the intersections between craft and community practice to test collective forms of making and storytelling in relation to place. Keren has a BFA (Hons) from Central St Martins College of Art and Design, a Master of Fine Arts from Ilam School of Fine Art (Sculpture) and recently completed the Furniture Makers Programme at the Centre for Fine Woodworking in Wakapuaka.

For Keren, the By Whakatū Residency offers space for a research and design study into public art furniture for social spaces. Through design research, drawing, modelling and community art sessions with tamariki at Hira School, Keren seeks to develop and test accessible, socially-oriented, placemaking objects that celebrate a festival atmosphere and embrace senses of connection and belonging – for a prototype festival seat 🪑 🪑 , a public sculpture for the community to enjoy.

You can find out more about these amazing artists, their practice and processes at our By Whakatū Residency Sharing on Sun 29 Oct, 12.30pm in the Suter Theatre 💙