Elise Sadlier

Kei te moemoeā au e pa ana te ao wairua me te ao tūroa translates to “I dream of you in the physical world and the spiritual world.” My work meets at the intersection of contemporary moving image and film. As a person of Māori and Pākehā descent, I am uniquely positioned in a space which navigates plurality in all its complexities. I dream of you in two worlds uses surreal imagery to convey a sense of longing and nostalgia through the language of dreams.

This series of short films is slow-burning, highly stylized, and colourful. It is the manifestation of my poetry, interwoven with mōteatea and pūrākau. Film has the ability to reveal the mauri of the subject. In this way, my mahi toi transcends photography and becomes a spiritual practice. This series aims to amplify this kaupapa by revealing the spiritual world entangled with the physical.