The Paperskin: the art of tapa cloth exhibition at Te Papa is an invitation to celebrate the breathtaking visual sophistication and richness of Pacific tapa. From dramatic and ornate four-metre-high ceremonial masks used in Papua New Guinea, to an impressive 22.7-metre ngatu from Tonga, Paperskin: the art of tapa cloth brings together a stunning selection of over 40 tapa works from around the Pacific. This exhibition also offers a rare and unique opportunity for Te Papa to display some of its largest tapa pieces from its own extensive tapa collection. The exhibition also displays Ngatu pepa, a Tongan ‘barkcloth’ made with Vilene (synthetic fabric) made by ‘Ilo Me’a Fo’ou (New Creations), a Tongan women’s group from Upper Hutt in 1996. This remarkable Tongan ngatu highlights recent local innovations in this ancient art form. Paperskin: the art of tapa cloth is a collaboration between Te Papa, the Queensland Art Gallery and the Queensland Museum. It runs at Te Papa’s Visa Platinum Gallery (Level 4) until 12 September 2010. (Image: Kavat mask, 1971, Kairak Baining people, East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea. Purchased 2009, Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Grant. Collection Queensland Art Gallery)
Pacific artists and critics from around the world are arriving in Rarotonga for the 10th Pacific Arts Association (PAA) International Symposium early next week. The theme for the symposium is “Museums, New Global Communities, and Future Trends”. The purpose of the PAA is to connect individuals and institutions around the world and encourage greater cooperation among those involved with the creation, study and exhibition of Pacific Art. The symposium will take place from 9 – 11 August 2010, at the Crown Beach Resort in Ratotonga.
Creative New Zealand’s third review of its Recurrently Funded Organisations (RFOs) is recommending that two feasibility studies be undertaken in the next year. The first is to look into a management company for dance and theatre companies, including Maori and Pasifika dance and theatre, to provide shared, cost-effective management and audience development services for smaller independent companies. The second study will look at a Pasifika arts development organisation to coordinate and provide capability building for Pasifika artists across a range of arts practice and to develop new audiences for Pasifika arts and artists. The review recommends that work on the feasibility of these initiatives be carried out in 2010–11 so that options can be considered by 2012, when the new multi-year investment programmes have been implemented.
Creative New Zealand in association with Pasifika Festival presents ARTSpeak Pasifika – a two-day national fono for the Pacific arts industry. Open to Pasifika artists working in visual arts, performing arts, film and television, music, literature, music and heritage arts, the fono is an opportunity to share ideas and participate in panel discussions designed to provide inspiration and practical advice on making a successful career in the arts. Creative New Zealand’s Anton Carter says “it’s the first time in over 10 years a multi art form fono like this has been organized”. The fono takes place on Friday 25th June and Saturday 26th June 2010 at the Reception Lounge (Level 2) of the Auckland Town Hall, Queen Street, Auckland. Numbers are limited to 150 people and the cost is a flat rate of $30 which includes refreshments on both days. A limited number of travel subsidies are available to assist participants from outside the Auckland region to attend. For more details and registration, see http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/artspeak.
Tino Rangatira Tanga is a powerful exhibition by emerging Maori and Pacific artist Leilani Kake (Tainui, Ngāpuhi, Cook Island, American). Filmed entirely on hand held camera Tino Rangatira Tanga follows Kake as she documents her fathers tā moko (Māori facial tattooing) and his subsequent illness and passing. The footage, shot in first person perspective with Kake behind the lens, provides the audience with an opportunity to experience these sacred moments through her eyes. The exhibition runs at the Deane Gallery, 101 Wakefield Street, Wellington until 13 June 2010. Kake is an Auckland-based video installation artist who utilises narratives taken directly from her personal life to comment on larger issues facing Māori and Pacific Island communities living in Aotearoa New Zealand. She gained a Degree in Visual Arts at the Manukau Institute of Technology in 2002 and returned in 2005 to undertake postgraduate studies in Fine Arts. She regularly exhibits nationally and abroad, and recently presented a paper on Māori and Pacific urban arts in Aotearoa New Zealand to the Los Angeles College Art Association (2009) in San Francisco. In 2005, she was awarded the Salamander Gallery/Creative New Zealand Emerging Pacific Visual Artist Award. Tino Rangatira Tanga was first exhibited at the Fresh Gallery Otara, Auckland, in 2008.
 (Image adapted from Ema Tavola’s Colour Me Fiji blog.)
A new purpose-built Mangere Arts Centre is being built in South Auckland and is expected to be completed by September 2010. Once completed the centre will provide Mangere with a world-class performance and arts venue including a 300-seat flexiform performance area, state of the art acoustic design, suitable for a range of music from fine music to rock, 240m² gallery, 56m² studio, foyers, offices, change rooms, a café, and a large outdoor courtyard. Ema Tavola, the current Pacific Arts Coordinator for Manukau City Council, will take up the position of Visual Arts Manager at the new Mangere Arts Centre. Speaking of her time at Fresh Gallery Otara, Ema said that the gallery was the public platform for her work supporting the development of an already robust Pacific arts sector in Manukau City. We have hosted exhibitions, talanoa / dialogue, workshops, poetry and music. We have had so much interaction, engaged so many hearts and minds, inspired and created a fertile ground for meetings, interactions, ideas.” Her current position as Manukau City Council Pacific Arts Coordinator is to be advertised in the coming month.
Since its establishment in May 2006 as a partnership between the Otara community and Manukau City Council, Fresh Gallery Otara has presented almost 50 exhibitions featuring the work of more than 120 artists. With a focus on contemporary Pacific art Fresh Gallery Otara has programmed exhibitions that have strong contextual and cultural references to the site of Otara and the local community, which is almost 70% Polynesian and 20% Maori with 40% of the community under 20 years of age. The gallery has served as a platform from which local artists have been able to launch themselves into the next stage of their artistic career. One of them, local artist Terry Koloamatangi Klavenes, has been selected to to represent the gallery’s culture and identity at the milestone with his photographic exhibition Blood’s Thicker than Mud. Speaking about the impact the gallery has made, Klavenes says “a humble little art gallery found in the heart of Otara has been instrumental in shattering many of the stereotypes connected to South Auckland art and artists. Over its short history, Fresh Gallery Otara has presented artwork that has pushed, challenged and reshaped the boundaries of our art. I’m honoured to have my work shown as part of the fourth anniversary celebrations and count myself privileged to be a part of Fresh Gallery Otara’s history.”
Viewers have two more days to enjoy “Tongan Style”, an exhibition featuring the Tongan art and practice of embroidery and crocheting. The exhibition has been showing since 16 April at the Fresh Gallery Otara in South Auckland and will end this Saturday 8 May 2010 with an artists’ floor talk. “Tongan Style” is a special tribute to five Tongan-born, New Zealand based women artists and their embroidered and crocheted sheets, pillow cases and dresses. Curator Kolokesa Mahina-Tuai says embroidery and crochet as fine arts play a significant role in Tongan ceremonies – including gift giving, birthdays, weddings and funeral decorations. Other Pacific cultures practice the art of embroidery and crocheting including the Cook Islands and Kiribati but this exhibition features the work and garments of five Tongan women: Lingisiva ‘Aloua, Kolokesa Kulikefu, Noma ‘Ofa-ki-nu’usila Talakia’atu, Manuesina Tonata and Hulita Tupou. (For more information, read an article about the exhibition in the Papakura Courier, 5 May, 2010.)
Detail of embroidered pillowcase made in the 1990s by Kolokesa Kulīkefu. (Image courtesy of the Fresh Gallery Otara.)
Manukau Arts in partnership with the Pacific Arts Committee of Creative New Zealand is proud to present the CNZ Heritage Arts Fono as part of the 2010 Manukau Pacific Arts Summit. The Fono takes place at the Otara Music Arts Centre (crn of Newbury and Bairds Road) from 10 am to 3 pm on Friday 7 May, 2010. The fono will discuss Creative New Zealand’s Heritage Arts strategy, projects and opportunities. Heritage art practices are art forms that have been brought to New Zealand from the Pacific Islands and which are presently sustained by individuals, communities, elders or experts who maintain traditional knowledge through their art practice. Heritage arts can include language, oral arts, handicrafts, weaving, carving, tivaevae, tatau, rituals, protocols and cultural specific activities. Creative New Zealand’s Senior Programmes Advisor for Pacific Arts, Anton Carter, will be available for one-on-one sessions to build awareness around the application process. For catering purposes, registration is necessary; to register or for more information please email Brett.Stirling@manukau.govt.nz or phone Nicole Lim on 09 271 6019.
Traditional Cook Island Tivaevae demonstrations are set to add colour to Manukau’s Pasifika Celebrations this week. Three Manukau libraries are hosting the demonstrations as part of the city’s celebrations of its Pacific diversity. Manukau is home to 88,000 Pacific people, almost 28 per cent of its 330,000 population. Samoan is the second most spoken language in Manukau, after English. The demonstration are free and can be viewed at the following dates and venues:
- Wednesday, 17 March, 2010, 10.30am, Mangere Town Centre Library
- Thursday, 18 March, 2010, 12.30pm, Pakuranga Library
- Wednesday, 24 March, 2010, 10.30am, Otara Library
For more information, see www.manukau-libraries.govt.nz or phone 262 5101 ext 8697.
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