Israel Randell Postcard

Israel Randell

Rarotongan / Māori (Tainui & Ngāti Kahungunu) / English / Irish / Scottish
Media Installations

Postcards Unlocked #23

Israel Randell is a multidisciplinary artist who explores the notions of innovation as tradition. These concerns are examined through installations, performances and spatial activations that are informed by her dual heritage (Tainui, Ngāti Kahungunu, Rarotonga). Born in the Waikato region, Israel attended Hungry Creek Art School in Auckland, before moving to the Bay of Plenty with her young family where she completed a Bachelor of Creative Industries. Israel’s work often activates dormant spaces within urban communities as a way to cultivate new conversations and expose communities to new ways of thinking.

She has an arts administration background and has been involved with many community arts events in Tamaki, Tauranga and Rotorua. Her work is underpinned by cosmological theories of space and the parallels found in her Pasifika and Maori culture. This in-between space allows her to investigate unknown territory, which influences her thinking and making process.

“To me being an artist is about being an intermediary between worlds and bringing to light stories, ideas or feelings that have been forgotten, but in subtle ways where the viewer can be inquisitive toward the works”
Israel Randell

I also host a podcast called Making Waves Podcast where I talk with artists and designers about their practice. I like to use this as a way to connect with other artists and share it through a super assessable and easy way. I’m inspired by my peers and other creatives in their respective fields. If I wasn’t totally seduced by art I’d probably be a musician or a maker of clothes. These strands of creativity flow through my work sometimes and I do like to explore them in more abstract ways, like using sound or fabric. Everything inevitable feeds into my art-making practice.