SUMMER
Ina Malama talks about her award winning graduate fashion collection which thanks to the generosity of Tautai patrons will be shown at New York Fashion Week in September 2020.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION FROM THE DIRECTOR FETU TA’I | GUIDES OF THE VOYAGE FRESH HORIZONS PASIFIKA INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME DAEDAE TEKORONGA-WAKA Q & A WITH INTERN GLORIANA MEYERS FLORENCE ULUTUNU JASMINE TOGO-BRISBY INTERNATIONAL ARTIST RESIDENCY 2019 POSTCARD | TUAFALE TANOA’I AKA LINDA T. FIRST FRIDAYS EXHIBITION | OFFSTAGE9 West Auckland Kiribati Association
EXHIBITION | BLAK DOT X TAUTAI TAUTAI BOARD
INTRODUCTION Lonnie Hutchinson | Chair, Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust
This is something that no other organisation our size has attempted. We are delighted with the response and we will continue to deliver many of our First Fridays programmes in this way in 2020.
Tēnā koutou katoa, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Ni sa bula vinaka, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Malo ni, Fakatalofa atu, Kia orana kotou, The last 12 months have been challenging and exciting and looking back I am grateful for everything that has happened at Tautai and for all those who are working around us. I would personally like to thank our new director, Courtney Sina Meredith, the Tautai team, and my fellow board members for their tireless mahi. I would like to pass on some personal reflections on my first term as Chair. One of the highlights for me last year was the launch of the “First Fridays” live event series. This saw the various branches of our community deliver presentations across music, performance, poetry, prose, dance and art. We live-streamed our events into the homes and businesses of a much wider audience than ever before. First Fridays was viewed by our community in Aotearoa and by many on our surrounding ancestral islands.
The other exciting news is that from February 2020 Tautai will be located across the whole top floor at 300 Karangahape Road. This is the area currently occupied by Artspace. They are moving downstairs to an exciting new space and we look forward to working with them in 2020 and beyond. Tautai is a small team with a large family and an even bigger heart. I’d like to acknowledge our community for their continued support. To every one of you who attended an event or logged into our live streams – thank you for choosing to be involved with Tautai. I look forward to engaging with you in what promises to be Tautai’s biggest year yet. Ngā mihi mahana e kia manuia, Lonnie Hutchinson Chair, Board of Trustees, Tautai
Photo of Lonnie Hutchinson: Sam Hartnett
FROM THE DIRECTOR Courtney Sina Meredith | Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust
Kia Orana koutou katoa toa, I write this having just touched down in Auckland from Melbourne, where we opened our first collaborative exhibition with Blak Dot Gallery in Naarm, (Melbourne) celebrating the work of nine talented Oceanic artists from across Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. It was a very successful event and we look forward to doing more work with our Australianbased Pasifika people in the future. While I can look back on this year, happy in the glow of what we’ve achieved, there have been some challenges. The past twelve months have been about change and transition. It was never going to be easy to change who helmed this waka, but I have done my best to meet each challenge with openness and humility. My goal for Tautai when I came into this role was to future-proof the Trust as an orgainisation befitting the talent and gifts abundant within our community. I am overjoyed that thanks to Creative New Zealand, our major funder, Tautai has multi-year financial support through to 2026.
Photography by Ralph Brown
We are finding a niu place to stand within the local and international arts landscape, calling on, and within ourselves, the alofa of our ancestors. Our new dedicated space will be bigger and more purposeful in order to celebrate and uplift Oceanic arts and artists. This is something that our community could have only dreamed about 30 years ago, yet today it’s a reality. Kia Manuia, Courtney Sina Meredith Director, Tautai
Collaborative exhibition with Blak Dot Gallery in Naarm.
FETU TA’I | GUIDES OF THE VOYAGE Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust | Patron Programme Over the past five years Fetu T’ai has provided valuable support to Tautai’s artists. Thanks to the energy and passion of Rose Dunn, the patrons have provided unique opportunities for our artists to develop and enhance their practice and develop new audiences and markets.
year also saw many new families joining Fetu T’ai as part of our wider ‘aiga. These lovers of Pacific arts are treasured by us and we look forward to inviting new members in 2020 and beyond.
The patrons hold four special events each year where they meet and talk with artists and learn about their particular creative journey.
None of this would be possible without the generosity and alofa of Rose Dunn, our founding patron and her husband, John Dunn. Their home has been the setting for some magical and memorable events.
In 2019 the patrons also agreed to extend their support to multi-year partnerships to 2022. This level of commitment allows our artists to plan and make long-term decisions about their careers and artistic practice. The
“It’s great to see Tautai in such good heart. The Fetu Ta’i patrons love our quarterly meetings where we meet Tautai artists and catch up on the latest on the Pasifika arts scene” Fetu Ta’i founding Patron Rose Dunn.
Rose Dunn and Courtney Sina Meredith “Great art feeds a family for generations”. Fatu Feu’u, Founding Patron, Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust
Fatu Feu’u (right) with current patrons John Gow (left) and Andrew Smith Dancers: Ufitia Sagapolutele (choreographer), Faith Schuster and Lyncia Muller
FRESH HORIZONS Ufitia Sagapolutele | Fresh Horizons Coordinator
I’m grateful for the opportunity to coordinate Fresh Horizons and want to commend Tautai for creating these workshops for our rangatahi. This is an incredible opportunity to learn from established artists in Aotearoa. Being from South Auckland, and seeing workshops like these that are free and available for others is awesome. The most rewarding part was seeing the students interact with one another and gaining confidence within themselves, being with each other and learning from the mentors. It reminded me why this mahi is so important in building and nurturing the next generation. Thank you Tautai
PASIFIKA INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME Since it began in 2014 the Creative New Zealand Pasifika Internships Programme has grown to become a signature initiative that drives Pasifika arts management across the wider arts sector of Aotearoa New Zealand. The Pasifika Internships are paid positions lasting 20 weeks. They are designed to meet the needs of a changing arts sector by placing emerging Pasifika practitioners into arts management roles with host organisations. Tautai is proud that 75 percent of interns find ongoing work in the arts beyond their placements and often within the very organisations that have hosted them. Alumni include Amiria Puia-Taylor, Grace Taylor, Paul Fagamalo, Leki Jackson-Bourke, Sonya Elspeth Withers, and Ufitia Sagapolutele.
Tautai CNZ Pasifika Tuakana-Teina Back row: Grace Taylor, Gloriana Meyers, Paul Lisi, Daedae Tekoronga-Waka, Amberley Aumua Front Row: Joshua Iosefo, Serval Fandango, Amiria Puia-Taylor, Zandra Ah Jay-Maepu
In 2019, the Pasifika Internships were based on Tuakana Teina partnerships. The Tuakana Teina approach enables a Pasifika and Māori worldview to lead, whereby Tuakana (an older person) supports the development of Teina (the younger person). Past interns are given the opportunity to become Tuakana and help guide new interns. In 2019, Pasifika Interns were Samoan/ Māori filmmaker Amberley Aumua, Tongan artist and designer Serval Fandango, Samoan theatre-maker Joshua Iosefa, Tongan Pacific art historian Gloriana Meyers, Samoan performance artist Zandra Ah Jay-Maepu and Cook Islands Māori performance artist Daedae Tekoronga-Waka. The call out for the Pasifika Internship Programme 2020 will be February 24.
DAEDAE TEKORONGA-WAKA Daedae Tekoronga-Waka was hosted by BATS Theatre, Wellington
PERSISTENCE! LOVE! LIGHT!
This was the moment my three years of performing had prepared me for. It was an exciting opportunity to learn about the marketing, finance and programming details within a professional organisation.
After dropping out of high school there came a point in my life when I knew I had to be the change I wanted to see. I wasn’t going to become another statistic.
My host organisation entrusted me with producing the Pit Bar, brought back to life as part of BATS Theatre’s 30th anniversary celebrations. I immediately got stuck in and at times I felt scared because I’d never produced an event before like this. My biggest takeaway from this experience was the personal development and growth I made as an artist. The six months at BATS changed me from a girl to a woman.
Ko Daedae Tekoronga-Waka ahau. No Manurewa ahau. He Cook Islands Māori ahau. He multi-disciplinary artist ahau.
I enrolled in a Pacific performing arts degree and started writing. I loved the stage and started observing and identifying some areas I felt we Oceanic LGBTQ+ artists needed to have within the creative industry. I wanted to create multiple platforms for our Māori and Pasifika LGBTQ + creative community to authenticate our voices in television, theatre and film. I realised my purpose! This year I performed at Auckland’s ASB Waterfront theatre; joined the Oceania Odd Family Collective; co-directed a show as part of a new directors internship programme and I was awarded a six month ‘all expenses paid’ Tautai internship at BATS theatre in Wellington.
The team at BATS became my family. BATS became my Marae. I value the skills I learnt but nothing compares to the connections I made. I left Wellington armed with professional industry skills to help guide me towards producing my own work and create new platforms for other artists like me.
Daedae in Odd Daphne by Joshua Iosefo Photo: Vince Causing
BIO | Daedae is an emerging non-binary, multi disciplinary artist who hopes to pave the way for up-coming Takatapui, Fa’afafeine, Fakaleiti and Akavaine artists; and provide a platform through performance art to ensure authenticity is represented in television, film and theatre both nationally and internationally. Daedae completed a Diploma in Pacific Performing Art at the Pacific Institute of Performance Arts in 2017.
Daedae performs in the play Whitu - A Matariki Story by Jenny Parham Photo: Jenny Parham
Q & A WITH INTERN GLORIANA MEYERS What has the Pasifika internship Programme meant to you? GLORIANA MEYERS My internship at Auckland Museum was a beacon of light for me at the end of a long and hard academic journey. It validated my nerdiness, in that it confirmed specialised knowledge can be utilised as a skill and helped me to recognise my own contribution to Pacific arts as a non-artist who has a creative presence.
BIO | Gloriana Meyers is a passionate arts history and anthropology researcher with special interest in Tongan visual artists and Tongan cultural heritage. She completed her Masters of Arts in Anthropology at the University of Auckland in 2019.
Photograph supplied by Artist
How would you describe your experience in the internship? GM Overall, it was an incredibly rewarding experience. Being placed at the museum allowed me to learn first-hand what it means to work in the GLAM sector (galleries, libraries, archives, museums). The internship let me figure out if it was the industry I wanted to be in and gave me insight into what kind of roles are actually out there. Outside the job, it was amazing to connect with the other interns and our Tuakana. Having that support system was invaluable and something I think makes this internship unique (as well as decent pay!). What has been your favourite aspect of the internship? GM Working with the Pacific Collections’ team – it was such a pleasure to work with an incredible group of Oceanic women who are intelligent, hilarious and advocate for Oceanic perspectives / stories / opportunities in all aspects of their work. They are truly doing the mahi and I will miss being part of their team!
Can you tell us the three most valuable skills or lessons you have learnt during your Internship? GM 1. Be compassionate to yourself – this is for my fellow procrastinators/ perfectionists. It’s okay to make mistakes and when you do, don’t be so hard on yourself. 2. Know what you want and go for it – waiting for opportunities to find you is not the most effective way to reach your goals. 3. Trust your gut – if something doesn’t feel right then voice your concerns. What accomplishment are you most proud of? GM Finishing my Masters thesis. It focused on Aotearoa-born Tongan visual artists and the different connections they form through their art practice. It was a long and hard journey but I learnt so much and met some amazing people, and I am excited to make my research more accessible in the near future! What are you most looking forward to in 2020? GM Travelling. I’m going to a family reunion in Tonga, so it will be awesome to see all the family and chill with the tokos in the motherland. I am also hoping to go to Germany with my dad on a genealogy trip to trace some of his ancestors.
FLORENCE ULUTUNU Multidisciplinary artist, mentor and speaker
Tautai’s annual series of mid-winter creative workshops are held in June. They are led by an arts practitioner, and in 2019 I was fortunate to be one of those leaders. The aim is for the leader to talanoa and explore one aspect of their practice. It provides an opportunity for the creative community to come together and engage with other like-minded individuals My workshop explored the concept of Creative Courage – a struggle for some artists, regardless of how confident they are in their craft. The concept behind Creative Courage was a two pronged approach: logic and culture. I wanted to share my thoughts about what the mind is and how it functions. I explored how the mind contributes to our creative processes. Why, I hear you ask? The education system and its curriculum trains students from primary through to tertiary to utilise external resources – libraries, databases, Wikipedia etc. We aren’t taught to identify and utilise the resources that are readily available to us. More specifically, I wanted to create a shift in perspective by asking the questions, Where does creativity come from? Why do you create the things that you do? Why do you prefer one method of expression over the other?
The purpose of questioning our own creative processes is to create a sense of certainty, and through that, understand why fear is such a common language amongst artists. Fear is a feeling, one that is created when we lack understanding about a particular idea – the greater the uncertainty, the more fearful we may become. Bridging that gap is simple: study your own creative cycles, ask the questions, experiment beyond your chosen methods. I believe that building creative courage begins by understanding that our creativity didn’t begin with us. It is the by-product of the many weavers and makers who have come before us. This belief can keep us grounded through our creative processes. For providing the space and for sharing these stories, I want to acknowledge the team at Tautai. You have all contributed so much to my creative development, I am humbled to have had this opportunity. Fa’afetai lava, Florence Ulutunu
Photography by Ralph Brown
BIO | Florence Ulutunu is a multidisciplinary artist, mentor and speaker, born and grounded in Aotearoa New Zealand. Her work explores the dimensions of human consciousness, the mind and the creative process, while remaining anchored in her passion to inspire, liberate, and educate the collective. As a New Zealand-born Samoan woman, her initial search for identity has transcended into an ever-flowing story that has become the river from which she creates and teaches. Florence creates and hosts seminars, facilitates workshops, and offers both individual and group professional coaching as a bridge to help others lead more creative lives.
JASMINE TOGO-BRISBY Tautai Artist in Residence | Dunedin School of Art, Otago Polytech
Every three years an Oceanic artist is selected for the Dunedin School of Art Residency, in partnership with Tautai. Jasmine Togo-Brisby was the 2019 recipient. Jasmine is a fourth-generation Australian South Sea Islander, whose great-great-grandparents were taken from Vanuatu as children and put to work on an Australian sugarcane plantation. Based in Wellington, Togo-Brisby is one of the few artists delving into the cultural memory and shared histories of plantation colonisation across the Pacific. Her practice encompasses painting, early photographic techniques and processes, and sculpture.
and impact upon those who trace their roots to New Zealand and Australia through the slave-diaspora. The result was Jasmine’s exhibition Birds of Passage. “I’m proud of the work I produced. That work, honestly, I was on my own – I couldn’t just ring my homies or my family for help, and I was working with crow wings – a brand new medium. I couldn’t be prouder. Keep pushing the boundaries, it can bring about whole new forms.”
“The residency with Dunedin School of Art and Tautai, gave me the time and space to focus on my research with no distractions”, says Jasmine. Jasmine’s research examines the historical practice of ‘blackbirding’, a romanticised colloquialism for the Pacific slave trade, and its contemporary legacy
Opening for Birds of Passage at Dunedin School of Art Gallery
Photography by Nadai Wilson
INTERNATIONAL ARTIST RESIDENCY 2019 New York based Tongan artist Vaimoana Niumeitolu, was Tautai’s International Artist-in-Residence in September. Vaimoana has a varied arts practice – she is a writer, actor, painter, community muralist, educator and filmmaker. Born in Nuku’alofa, Tonga, Vaimoana moved to O’ahu, Hawai’i at a young age, before finally settling with family in Utah until her late teens. Currently based in the United States, Vaimoana graduated from New York University in Painting and Performance, earned the Ellen Stoekel Fellowship in Painting and Drawing from Yale University and attended Columbia University’s Graduate Program in Acting. Vaimoana has painted community murals in Australia, Kenya, Jordan, Aotearoa New Zealand, Palestine and throughout the United States. She has also led community art projects in Alaska, Italy, Ireland and South Africa “Where I come from, where I have been, where I live and where I am going, is what informs my art and my creations. The Tautai residency was an opportunity for me to share my voice and be visible. In my first week alone, I was lucky enough to attend an opening at Te Tuhi. The time enabled me to see local exhibitions, attend local shows, where I made connections from all corners of the Oceania community.” Based in Auckland for the five-week residency, Vaimoana had the opportunity
to meet with and participate in local creative communities across Tāmaki Makaurau. As an artist-in residence, she had the opportunity to engage with Auckland-based galleries and arts organisations to further her research and creative practice. “I was the featured speaker for the Tautai First Friday in September and experienced my international debut on the Audio Foundation stage. I attended the launch of Tupaia (written by Tautai director Courtney Sina Meredith) at the Auckland Museum and experienced a special screening of For My Father’s Kingdom directed by Tongan filmmakers Vea Mafile’o and Jeremiah Tauamiti.” Previous recipients of the Tautai International Residency include Jean Melasaine, and Juliana Brown Eyes.
Vaimoana Niumeitolu with Noma Sio-Faiumu and Courtney Sina Meredith. Photography by Ralph Brown
POSTCARD | TUAFALE TANOA’I AKA LINDA T. Live Hive Residency | Goa, India In November, artist Linda.T travelled to a special artists’ gathering in Goa, India. Here are some highlights. “The allocated art studio is huge, has smoker friendly open walls, which are also open to temperatures and insects of all kinds. It’s a therapeutic visual green tree scene, but the daily temperature of 22 – 35 degrees celsius is heat stroke material for this body of mine. I immediately relocated myself to my ceiling-fanned, air-conditioned studio space that doubles as my bedroom. I dream of mosquito free spaces that are physically cool. HIGHLIGHTS • I visited Mapusa City Farmers’ Market on Fridays, used my incognito image taking skills. Ate onion-free cheese dossas at a vegetarian restaurant. Got to the local supermarket once (it’s like our Four Square) where I saw marmite. Walked to the local dairy once (I can hear people laughing at this). Yes, it’s five minutes, close. Attended a theatre play by local Goa actors and met the supportive theatre community. Attended the art exhibition The Vault opening at The Goa Museum, and met heaps of local artists. • By invitation, I documented local musicians, The Bond Collective, who were playing at a Konkani Catholic prewedding ceremony called Rosse. • I attended the Pride March and later DJ’ed at a bar for a local Pride function.
• Had a medium rare steak and mash spuds at café Double Dutch in Arambol. • Got fabric and designs to the local tailors for my future DJ Linda T. and public performance events. Attended Rosanna Raymond’s artist talk at The Goa Museum. • I joined Rosanna on her daily walk to the beach just so I could enjoy an English breakfast and visited fabric and craft stores. • I enjoyed a chicken shwarma, (nothing like Middle East Café’s) it was small, messy and delicious. • Pleased that I am still adding content to my website. It’s lindat.art, thanks Janet. • I remember the assertive taxi ride with Daniel, he danced as he drove to his shared Indian music. • I am so grateful for Mitali Nath and The Live Hive Residency making this time work for me. • It’s about the food fuelling the mental, intellectual, emotional and physical energy to power my creative builds. I mostly lived a vegetarian daily diet of local food, prepared by local chefs, and on cheat days, ordered in, to please my burger cravings. • I was able to focus on my self-directed community artist practice. • I remain impressed with the invisible footpaths that the courageous pedestrians share with vehicles and animals of all kinds. • Being in a supportive, resourceful, productive environment is immeasurable. • Having the freedom and time to be
creative in a multitude of ways, is my home in motion. I am so grateful to all who donated time and resources towards supporting my community art practice. Dude Tuisamoa, D.A.N.C.E. art club, Janet, Robyn Tauroa, Tautai Pacific Arts, MonR, Betty, Tai and so many more. Thanks Rosanna, for the coffee, our ili and the Buzz Off repellent. Kia manuia, Tuafale Tanoa’i aka Linda T.
FIRST FRIDAYS Embracing the Digital Audience
First Fridays was a new initiative in 2019 – a monthly event series live-streamed from Aotearoa New Zealand to the rest of the country and the world beyond. Taking place on the first Friday of each month from March to November, the Oceanic arts community were invited to come together for an evening of knowledge sharing through talanoa and performance. Each event featured a curatorial narrative that presented artists of different mediums, to spark off one another and inspire audiences with new ideas and intimate offerings of creative innovation. The first First Friday event live streamed in March from the Tautai offices to a standing-room-only audience, featuring talanoa led by Samoan poet Maualaivao Albert Wendt. He was followed by South Sea Island artist Jasmine Togo-Brisby and a performance by emerging singersongwriter Sema. The evening’s MC was the Rev. Mua Strickson-Pua. The live streaming allowed communities across Aotearoa New Zealand and beyond to have greater participation and experience of the arts. First Fridays also established itself as a forum to engage with under-represented Pacific communities – like the South Sea Islanders whose plight was poignantly shared by artist Jasmine Togo-Brisby.
Photography by Ralph Brown
In April, Tautai collaborated with their neighbour Artspace Aotearoa and artists, Lana Lopesi, Tigilau Ness, Ufitia
Sagapolutele and Pauline Smith. In May, First Fridays was hosted Daren Kamali at the Central City Library with former New Zealand Poet Laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh, Will ‘Ilolahia and a performance by the Black Friars. First Fridays in June showcased dancer Julia Mage’au Gray and photographer Raymond Sagapolutele. It was hosted by Sefa Enari at Pacific Dance headquarters in Grey Lynn. In July, Wellington’s Adam Art Gallery presented First Fridays. Hosted by award-winning playwright Victor John Rodger, the evening saw artists Edith and Shiloh Amituanai in conversation, a presentation by policy advisor and fashion designer Mary Tiumalu, and a play reading by Victor John Rodger. First Fridays August was held at Te Uru Gallery in Titirangi. It featured a presentation from Joana Monolagi and Luisa Tora of The Veiqia Project, followed by Lagi-Maama (Kolokesa Mahina-Tuai and Barbara Makuati-Afitu) in conversation. The event closed with a outstanding performance by the West Auckland Kiribati Association. September’s event was all about the music and held at Audio Foundation. It featured creative presentations from the 2019 Tautai International Artist in Residence Vaimoana Niumeitolu, producer, musician, and digital creative
Anonymouz aka Faiumu Matthew Salapu, and a live performance by The Two Nine. First Fridays October featured Tautai’s Founding Patron Fatu Feu’u, beloved Pasifika performing arts stalwarts Pos Mavaega and Tanya Muagututi’a, and rising star Leki Jackson-Bourke. This was the last ‘First Friday’ in Aotearoa for 2019 as the final event was held in Naarm (Melbourne) in November – coinciding with Tautai’s first ever exhibition with Indigenous artist run space Blak Dot Gallery in Brunswick. First Fridays 2020 will build on the success of 2019. Tautai is currently in the process of developing these exciting opportunities with a not-to-be-missed line up of local events.
LINK ☞ https://www.facebook.com/pg/ TautaiContemporaryPacificArts/videos/
EXHIBITION | OFFSTAGE9 Co-Curated by Giles Peterson and Zoe Hoeberigs
Tautai’s annual moving image and live performance festival event Offstage 9, took place in April 2019, at Uxbridge, Auckland – the first time it had occurred in East Auckland. It was curated by Giles Peterson and Zoe Hoeberigs for Tautai and held in association with the group exhibition ‘Garden of Memories: Extending quilt making traditions from around the Pacific Rim’ at Uxbridge’s Malcolm Smith Gallery. Garden of Memories was dedicated to Beverly Peterson, Giles’ mother who died in January 2019. Bev, as she was known, was a passionate supporter of Pacific arts and Giles devoted the piece below to her and all mothers. “Offstage9 profiled lens-based media work, spoken word and live performance activation to address issues regarding land, gender, body and race, womanhood and the vital connection
between w/vahine and the whenua, and the arts of the Solwara - Moana. Featured artists included BC Collective (Cora-Allan Wickliffe & Daniel Twiss). Maia Wharewera – Ballard, Vea Mafile’o, Katherine Atafu – Mayo and Salle Tamatoa, niu artists honouring the established artists in the Garden of Memories group exhibition – via the tuakana – teina model of community leadership. The art presented wasn’t just radical in its aesthetic content and raw power: it was a tool to talanoa – to come together, to activate, to discuss, challenge, heal, spark change, inspire; a gathering and forum for personal intergenerational sharing of survival, resilience, self determination, arts and communities. Gallery-based and activated Moana community collaborations and
partnerships, such as Offstage 9, are vital nodes in niu ecologies for the future wellspring of Contemporary and Customary Moana Pasifik(a) arts, Mana Moana agency, sovereignty and cultural expression. Offstage9, through considered curating, programming, niu talent, honouring, relationships and caring, created a beautiful and engaging space for new Moana Nui a Kiwi storytelling and community sharing to take place. A big thank you to the participating artists for their wonderful maihi and arohanui, to Zoe Hoeberigs(now Black) – my co-curator for Offstage 9 – for all her amazing hard work – to Courtney Sina Meredith and Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust whanau and to Malcolm Smith Gallery and Uxbridge for the opportunity and support, and to all the family, partners, friends, loved ones, community elders, artists, mentors, teachers and rangatahi youth leaders, who came from across Auckland and the Moana to support our amazing niu artists: the birth of a new generation”
Photography by Ralph Brown
BIO | Giles Peterson. Giles Peterson- b: Papua Niu Guinea, is an educator at Whitecliffe College, a founding member of Tautai, and has been an independent curator of Pacific contemporary art for the last 25 years. He has focused his curatorial practise on working with young, urban Pacific artists and analysing the intersections between customary and traditional values and contemporary performance art and social practice. Peterson has a special interest in relational curating in the Pacific, working with artists whose work reflects the diverse experiences and concerns of Moana Pasifik communities, addressing questions of identity and identification, globalisation, technology, and survival from colonisation. BIO | Zoe Hoeberigs (Black) Zoe comes from both an education and arts management background: she has been a secondary school teacher, the Education and Public Programmes Manager for the Wallace Arts Trust, and most recently a curator at Malcolm Smith Gallery in east Auckland. Currently Maukuuku Community Development Co-ordinator for Objectspace.
EXHIBITION | BLAK DOT x TAUTAI Israel Randall, one of the Tautai Blak Dot artists, reflects on the exhibition The dust has settled after the Tautai and Blak Dot collaborative exhibition the spACE betWEen us, co-curated by Kimba Thompson and Rosanna Raymond. This unique Oceanic exchange featured Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa artists whose practices navigate space and place through multi-disciplinary practices. The epic line up featured artists CoraAllan Wickliffe, Kelly Lafaiki, Ahsin Ahsin, Rangituhia Hollis, Naawie Tutugoro, Talia Smith, Mereani Qalovakawasa, Gina Ropiha and myself, Israel Randell, who reside in either Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. As I reflect on what the spACE betWEen us, I am reminded of the shared trauma and history we as Indigenous Peoples have experienced due to colonisation. I am also reminded of the mana we continue to hold as gatekeepers, freedom seekers and innovators, journeying through this threshold together, going beyond what is known and entering into the unknown. Space for us to flex our full potential. Cora-Allan Wickliffe and Kelly Lafaiki’s work Our last supper with you (2019) brought the traditional art form of Niue to Naarm. Made from Niuean Hiapo (bark cloth) and natural dyes, these artists are vessels, holding ancient knowledge and generational wisdom.
Ahsin Ahsin’s Community series (2019) pays homage to the people in his life who have made an impact on his journey as a creative. Building on his artistic practice these digital works push us deep into his world of nostalgia and pop culture. Across the face of the Moon (2019) by Rangituhia Hollis traverses the space between, within this space, he brings our attention to Karanga, the call that collapses space and time. This space between is extended through the works of Talia Smith, her photographic installation forces audiences to physically renegotiate space. Talia refers to the Va in her work as space where we, as Pacific Diasporas are unbound by constructs. Sick of it, a moving image shares everyday moments of Mereani Qalovakawasa’s journey with an autoimmune disease. She uses humour as a tool to dispel the shame associated with being sick in Pacific communities. Gina Ropiha’s work Tipi Haere meaning to wander – critiques the Trans-Pacific migratory experience. While Naawie Tutugoro’s work My Jesus has an Afro exists to dismantle Euro-Centric ideologies. Blood Mothers, Samara Alofa and Pipiana Hemi tap into ancient wisdom, amplifying their fluidity of expression and
Grace Vanilau’s oratory weaves poetry and song as an offering of transmutation. I am in awe of the calibre of each of these artists and feel immense gratitude to the Tautai team for facilitating this opportunity. In these spaces, I acknowledge those who have come before us and those who will come after us. I am imprinted by these experiences and feel humbled to have shown alongside these artists; alongside this kaupapa; in this time and space.
Photography by Ralph Brown
TAUTAI BOARD 2019 Lonnie Hutchinson Brenda Railey John Gandy Rosanna Raymond Stephen Cairns Sila Ioane Josie McNaught
Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust Level 1, 300 Karangahape Road, Newton PO Box 68 339, Wellesley Street West, Auckland 1010 +64 9 376 1665 tautai@tautai.org www.tautai.org