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Steven Junil Park, Gina Russell, Christine Brimer and Georgina May Young, The Soil Addresses Us As One, 2025
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TitleThe Soil Addresses Us As One
DescriptionSteven Junil Park 박준일 (Korean), Gina Russell (Ngāpuhi), Christine Brimer (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rongomaiwahine, Scotland, England) and Georgina May Young (Te Ūpokorehe, Te Whakatōhea, Irish)
Mixed-media installation
It’s about having a relationship with your materials. — Gina Russell
The Soil Addresses Us As One is a project initiated by artist Steven Junil Park and farmer Gina Russell to connect textile artists with the linen and natural dye plants that Gina grows in Waikirikiri Selwyn. Working as Growing Textiles, Gina’s intention is to organically farm textile plants on a scale that can support makers in Aotearoa New Zealand to use locally grown plant fibre and dye.
Steven, with his relationships in the craft community, invited fellow textile artists Christine Brimer and Georgina May Young to contribute new artwork to The Soil Addresses Us As One with the condition that they incorporate Gina’s mahi into their artwork.
In The Soil Addresses Us As One, the installation retells the story of textiles not as a commodity to be consumed, but as shared human phenomenon. Here textiles are portrayed as a force that brings people together and helps us understand who we are, where we have come from, and where we can go.
Together, the group used materials from Gina’s farm to examine what goes into creating textiles, telling the story right from the beginning: the plants, soil, sun, rain, and processes from which our clothing is made. The artworks speak to these materials as more than just beautiful resources to use in craft, but as the very fibres that connect us to each other. As they examine the physical origins and characteristics of organically grown textiles and natural dyes, they also explore the non-physical elements of what our textiles can mean: their emotional, social, cultural, and spiritual dimensions.DateMay 2025 - February 2026PhotographerSamTowse
DescriptionSteven Junil Park 박준일 (Korean), Gina Russell (Ngāpuhi), Christine Brimer (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Rongomaiwahine, Scotland, England) and Georgina May Young (Te Ūpokorehe, Te Whakatōhea, Irish) Mixed-media installation
It’s about having a relationship with your materials. — Gina Russell
The Soil Addresses Us As One is a project initiated by artist Steven Junil Park and farmer Gina Russell to connect textile artists with the linen and natural dye plants that Gina grows in Waikirikiri Selwyn. Working as Growing Textiles, Gina’s intention is to organically farm textile plants on a scale that can support makers in Aotearoa New Zealand to use locally grown plant fibre and dye.
Steven, with his relationships in the craft community, invited fellow textile artists Christine Brimer and Georgina May Young to contribute new artwork to The Soil Addresses Us As One with the condition that they incorporate Gina’s mahi into their artwork.
In The Soil Addresses Us As One, the installation retells the story of textiles not as a commodity to be consumed, but as shared human phenomenon. Here textiles are portrayed as a force that brings people together and helps us understand who we are, where we have come from, and where we can go.
Together, the group used materials from Gina’s farm to examine what goes into creating textiles, telling the story right from the beginning: the plants, soil, sun, rain, and processes from which our clothing is made. The artworks speak to these materials as more than just beautiful resources to use in craft, but as the very fibres that connect us to each other. As they examine the physical origins and characteristics of organically grown textiles and natural dyes, they also explore the non-physical elements of what our textiles can mean: their emotional, social, cultural, and spiritual dimensions.
DateMay 2025 - February 2026PhotographerSamTowseImage
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Steven Junil Park, Gina Russell, Christine Brimer and Georgina May Young, The Soil Addresses Us As One, 2025 (May 2025 - February 2026). Selwyn Stories, accessed 26/05/2026, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/6979