We are pleased to announce Saya Rose Naruse as the recipient of the 2024 Baltic Bothy Residency.
Bothy Project in partnership with the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, selected Saya from an open call for emerging artists based in the North East of England (County Durham, Northumberland, Teesside or Tyne and Wear). Saya will be spending one week at Sweeney’s Bothy on the Isle of Eigg in July 2024.
Saya is an interdisciplinary artist based in the North East. Her practices include filmmaking, photography, puppet-making and theatre-making. She trained at East 15 Acting School and seeks to centre her work around social justice, human experience and environmentalism.
Her previous work includes working as a puppet designer/ director on Cinderella: A Fairytale (Northern Stage) and Pursuers of the Future (Theatre Space North East). She has also worked as a maker, photographer and filmmaker for theatres, dance companies and arts organisations all across the UK.
On Eigg, Saya wants to explore how we can reconnect with nature, and create art that inspires or starts the conversation to realign ourselves with the natural world. She is looking forward to exploring a slower life, talking with the island’s residents, and experimenting with traditional and local crafts.
Saya is the sixth resident to undertake the Baltic Bothy Residency. Previous residents have included Katie Cuddon (2017), Julia Heslop (2018), Grace Denton (2019), Holly Argent (2021) and Sarah Jenkins (2023).
Above image: Portrait of Saya Rose Naruse. Photo by Lila Naruse.
Header image 1: Saya Rose Naruse, Zara, photograph, 2022. Part of Hyem is Rumah project.
Header image 2: Saya Rose Naruse, foraging basket 1, willow, 2022.
Header image 3: Saya Rose Naruse, Koi in Port Logan, photograph, 2022.
