toe feiloa'i / meet again
Andy Leleisi’uao, Raymond Sagapolutele, Ruta Tugia, Salome Tanuvasa, Sean Hill, and Our Little Market NZ.
01 - 18 June 2022
Online 3D virtual exhibition here.
toe feiloa’i is a common Samoan phrase used when saying goodbye to someone. The expectation following the phrase being spoken is that after a period of separation, one day you will meet again. This exhibition is an open call to the community to engage again in a talanoa/conversation with the artworks on display and each other.
All artists currently live in Aotearoa/New Zealand and have an ancestral connection back to Samoa.
The exhibition opens during Samoan Language Week 2022.
Andy Leleisi'uao is a fulltime artist living in Mangere, South Auckland. His parents Pepe and Tuifa'asisina Tinou'amea are from the villages of Lalomauga in Upolu and Palauli in Savai'i, Samoa. Andy is the 2017 Wallace Arts Trust Paramount Award Winner and is represented by Artis Gallery, Milford Galleries, Bergman Gallery, PG gallery192, and Moana Fresh.
Raymond Sagapolutele is an Aotearoa-born Samoan artist with ties to the villages of Fatuvalu in Savai'i and Saluafata in Upolu, Samoa. His photographic practice focuses on his heritage as a diasporic Samoan, with cultural ties to the history of the Pacific and the lands within Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. In his hands, the camera gains a voice and forms an oratory which connects to the cherished Samoan tradition of Fagogo (storytelling).
Salome Tanuvasa is a New Zealand artist of Tongan and Samoan descent. Her work is part of the permanent collection of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki. She is a multi-disciplinary artist and uses moving image, drawing, photography and sculpture.
Sean Hill is a New Zealand artist of European and Samoan descent, born and raised in Manurewa, South Auckland. Sean graduated with an Honours degree in Visual Arts at AUT. He has a varied art practice that includes painting, mural art, fashion, screen printing, and digital art design.
Our Little Market NZ founded by Sila Ioane in 2018, was created to champion small business, and help curious customers find wee treasures. Based in Auckland, Aotearoa, our product is sourced from all sorts and walks of life - friends overseas, neighbours down the road, local makers, flea market traders, and small South Auckland businesses.
11 Mayfair Place, Glen Innes, Auckland
This exhibition is proudly supported by TGTB Charitable Trust through funding from Lotto NZ.
Andy Leleisi’uao
Restless Spirits in Mangere Cemetery, 2007
720 x 1520mm
Acrylic on canvas
tāulaga / sacrifice
During the 1960’s many of my parents’ generation came to Aotearoa from Samoa. They came willingly and honourably because they believed in family. This sacrifice faced many obstacles and ramifications. Mangere Lawn Cemetery has many of my parents’ generation and younger amongst its permanent guests. I was thinking about how they bury loved ones on their land in Samoa, and in Aotearoa our people are buried in public spaces amongst strangers. Families move and for one reason or another we start visiting loved ones in cemeteries less. I wonder at times if my parents’ generation and younger who were born in Samoa would have preferred to have been buried in Samoa.
Raymond Sagapolutele
Malaga, 2021
520 x 680mm (framed)
C-type digital photograph
| malaga / journey The term frames the context as it relates to the movement of people of the Pacific and their diasporic communities away from their homelands. This work pays homage to our evolution on the whenua of our cousins in Aotearoa. |
Salome Tanuvasa
ma le alofa, 2021-22
Various dimensions
Acrylic on card and canvas
ma le alofa / with love
A study of works from Tanuvasa's home in Panmure. Here she is inspired by the natural forms and colours from her surrounding environment.
Sean Hill
faasologa o le alofa / sequence of love, 2021
1000 x 1000mm
Acrylic on refurbished pallet wood
Sold
faasologa o le alofa / sequence of love
It describes exactly what I feel, a love for nature: gardens, flowers, plants, insects and bush. From being in Samoa's ever-surrounding banana trees, taro leaves, the ocean, the markets - it is everything that I love and appreciate all in this one piece. I want people to enjoy the work, appreciate nature more, go out and be there with nature! Manuia!
