Moana Legacy artist Israel Randell explains the concept behind her mahi and how it encourages the viewer to look into their past

“There is no shortage of inspiration in Aotearoa…being surrounded by it is quite a fertile space for me.”

– Israel Randell

Moana Legacy is on at Tautai Gallery till 18 September

<< Stay tuned for more Artists Spotlights from Moana Legacy >>

Click here for more Israel!

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Moana Legacy artist Ahsin Ahsin talks about reconnecting with his fellow artists and what people might take away from his work and the exhibition.

“… it’s quite bold, it’s a bit of a statement, it’s in your face…”

– Ahsin Ahsin

Moana Legacy is on at Tautai Gallery till 18 September

<< Stay tuned for more Artists Spotlights from Moana Legacy >>

Click here for more Ahsin!

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<< Watch Naawie talanoa with 531pi >>

Naawie shares the message behind her work in Moana Legacy and how she carries her ancestors with her in her everyday life.

“…the messages always come back to identity and how I move through the world as a brown woman…”

– Naawie Tutugoro

Naawie‘s work is on show in Moana Legacy at Tautai Gallery until September 18

See Naawie and her father Luc Tutugoro in conversation at Tautai First Fridays

Video by 531pi
Published online on 29 July 2020 (source)

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Moana Legacy artist Rangituhia Hollis reflects on the lockdown as a catalyst for making and what it means to be part of this show.

“…for a long time we we’ve been pushed apart through western ways of thinking…and made to be separate when there are so many things that connect us.”

– Rangituhia Hollis

Moana Legacy is on at Tautai Gallery till 18 September

<< Stay tuned for more Artists Spotlights from Moana Legacy >>
Click here for more Rangi!

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Moana Legacy artist Naawie Tutugoro shares the story behind her work and her ongoing relationship with Tautai 

“…looking at the form as an umbilical cord, how I can connect to those who have gone before me…”

– Naawie Tutugoro

Moana Legacy is on at Tautai Gallery till 18 September 

<< Stay tuned for more Artist Spotlights from Moana Legacy >>
Click here for more Naawie!

For further information please email us
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For further information please email us
Tautai.org #tautai4lyfe

On Friday July 3 we opened Tautai Gallery and made history together!

We welcomed the community into our gallery for the first time with inaugural opening exhibition Moana Legacy.

Check out the Opening Night photo gallery’s below!

Our new expanded space was officially opened by Prime Minister and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, The Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern alongside a host of speakers including Founding Patron Fatu Feu’u, Representatives from Ngati Whatua and Creative New Zealand and our Board. We also acknowledge the attendance of The Right Hon. Carmel Sepuloni, Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage.

Curated by Cora-Allan Wickliffe, Moana Legacy marks a moment in the history of Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust opening its first gallery space.

Featuring artists: Ahsin Ahsin, Cora-Allan Wickliffe & Kelly Lafaiki, Gina Ropiha , Israel Randell, Mereani Qalovakawasa, Naawie Tutugoro, Rangituhia Hollis and Talia Smith

“This is a new chapter for Tautai, a historical moment in which we are honouring our heritage and moving forward together”

– Courtney Sina Meredith

All Photos by Isoa Kavakimotu

Moana Legacy is on at Tautai Gallery till September 18
Gallery Hours: 11am – 4pm

For further information please email us
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<< Watch Ahsin talanoa with PMN Cook Islands >>

Ahsin reflects on the realities of the arts sector and shares some wise words for budding artists

“…it’s harder for us to enter those realms but some of us can get in there and its good when we’re in there, we can inspire others, ‘Come this way, i’ll show you’…”

– Ahsin Ahsin

Ahsin‘s work is on show in Moana Legacy at Tautai Gallery until September 18

Video by PMN Cook Islands
Published online on 7 July 2020 (source)

For further information please email us
Tautai.org #tautai4lyfe

Tautai Gallery is a niu space with a rich legacy.

Over 30 years ago Tautai’s founding patron Fatu Feu’u and his peers gathered with a vision to create belonging and community for Pacific artists.

Fast forward to 2020 and Tautai Gallery is the fulfilment of this enduring ambition.

Contemporary Pacific art now has a dedicated platform right in the heart of Tāmaki Makaurau.

Truly a night to remember!

Video by No Six

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“It’s really important our community shows up for us. Without them what’s the purpose of having our work?”

– Cora-Allan Wickliffe

Hear more about our opening exhibition Moana Legacy from curator and artist Cora-Allan Wickliffe 

We can’t wait to share this epic exhibition with you all!

Moana Legacy is on at Tautai Gallery till September 18
Gallery Hours: 11am – 4pm

Meet the Artists of Moana Legacy HERE

For further information please email us.
Tautai.org #tautai4lyfe

Stay Creative, Stay Connected!

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Meet the Artist: Ahsin Ahsin 

Ahsin distills his imagination into his mural sized designs and multi-disciplinary practice  

Ahsin’s work is in Moana Legacy at Tautai Gallery
6 July – 18 September, 2020

Tāmaki-born Cook Island artist Ahsin Ahsin (Aitu, Aitutaki) distills his imagination into fantastic creatures, sigils, graffiti-marking and gestures suspended in hyperspace. Influenced by sci-fi films, street art and pop culture of the 80s & 90s, Ahsin communicates the notions of neo-pop in his mural sized designs and multi-disciplinary practice. 

Working between Kirikiriroa (Hamilton, Aotearoa) and Naarm (Melbourne, Australia), Ahsin has exhibited extensively throughout Aotearoa in international shows. Most recently, participating in the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Centre Project – Te Whāinga: A Culture Lab on Civility at Silo Park as well as his exhibition ‘Neon Utopia’ at the Tauranga Art Gallery as part of the international show ‘Mega World’. 

“My contribution to Moana Legacy is a mural of my crocodile characters, that I have been creating for a while now. They stemmed from an interest in ancient Greek/Roman vase paintings.”

– Ahsin Ahsin, 2020

Ahsin Online
Website: ahsinahsin.com | Instagram: @ushy_ushy

More Information:
Moana Legacy, 6 July – 18 September 2020

For further information please email us.
Tautai.org #tautai4lyfe

Meet the Artist: Talia Smith

Artist, writer, and curator Talia Smith illustrates the vā through her photographic-based practice

Talia’s work is in Moana Legacy at Tautai Gallery
6 July – 18 September, 2020

Living and working on Gadigal & Darug land (Sydney, Australia), Talia Smith is a Taranaki-born artist, writer and curator who explores themes central to her Moana heritage through photographic and moving image mediums. As a second-generation Aotearoa-born indigenous woman, much of her practice explores the investigation of intangible space that those of similar backgrounds can exist and occupy.

Talia has been recognised for her curatorial practice by multiple Australian arts institutions including Firstdraft’s emerging curator for 2017 and Artbank’s emerging curator for 2018. As an artist she has exhibited widely in Australia and Aotearoa. In 2020, she is ‘the churchie’ curator for the Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane and has completed the AIR_Frankfurt Program,as curator-in-residence with Basis in Frankfurt, Germany.

Her contribution to Moana Legacy ‘Surfacing’ is a photographic installation based her Masters of Fine Arts research that explores the tenuous link between past, present and future. A stripped back frame adorned with dreamy images from her multiple homelands – her ancestral homeland of the Cook Islands, her current home in Sydney and her birth home Aotearoa.

“Exploring my lived experience of being Cook Island, Sāmoan and New Zealand European, this work looks to explore how the vā can be used as a space for those of a Moana heritage to create their identities outside of Western structures, a place where time is not linear and we are informed by ours and our ancestors experiences.”

– Talia Smith, Moana Legacy Artist

Talia Online
Instagram: @edithcollier | Artist’s Website: talia-smith.com

More Information:
Moana Legacy, 6 July – 18 September

For further information please email us.
Tautai.org #tautai4lyfe

Meet the Artist: Israel Randell

An artist creating spatial activations where one can experience Matauranga Māori

Israel’s work is in Moana Legacy at Tautai Gallery
6 July – 18 September, 2020

Israel Randell is a multi-disciplinary artist of Cook Island (Rarotonga) and Māori (Tainui, Ngāti Kahungunu) descent, who explores the notions of innovation as tradition through installations, performances and spatial activations.

Israel’s work often activates dormant spaces within urban landscapes as a way to expose communities to new ways of thinking. Her practice is underpinned by cosmological theories of space and the parallels found in her Pasifika and Māori culture.

Born in the Waikato region, Israel attended Hungry Creek Art School in Tāmaki Makaurau before moving to Toi Moana (Bay of Plenty) with her young family. Most recently, she was the Supreme Award winner at the 2020 Tauranga Art Gallery, Miles Art Awards.

“Randell works with light and its adversary – dark. Her sculptural light forms create a space where one can experience Matauranga Māori (knowledge)”

Cora-Allan Wickliffe, Curator, Moana Legacy

Israel Online
Instagram: @israelrandell |
Podcast: Making Waves Podcast | Postcards Unlocked

More Information:
Moana Legacy, 6 July – 18 September 2020

For further information please email us.
Tautai.org #tautai4lyfe

Meet the Artist: Gina Ropiha

A Māori textile artist that works primarily with found objects to convey her experience of indigneity

Gina’s work is in Moana Legacy at Tautai Gallery
6 July 3 – 18 September 2020

Gina Ropiha (Ngāti Kahungunu/Ngāti Kere, Ngāti Raukawa/Ngāti Rakau) is a practising artist who hails from Heretaunga (Hastings) and is based in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia). Working primarily with found and repurposed objects, Ropiha’s art reflects her experience addressing the harsh realities and tests of living as an indigenous woman within colonised lands, while trying to maintain a sense of Māoritanga (Māori culture) and grace.

Rophia has exhibited internationally and was an Artist in Residence at the Australian Tapestry Workshop 2017. She is active member of Motu Taim (formerly Pacific Women’s Weaving Circle) and has been a teacher and tutor in arts education for 19 years.

Featuring works with her actual hair in the exhibition, Gina has gently woven kete as a tribute to Wurundjeri artist Georgia MacGuire. The use of hair was a means of expressing the regret, sorrow and grief felt when witnessing Georgia’s story.

Gina Online:
Instagram: @ginaropiha

More Information
Moana Legacy, 6 July – 18 September 2020

For further information please email us
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Meet the Artist: Naawie Tutugoro

Creating site-specific works that illuminate negotiations of place and space specific to the urban Pasifika experience.

Naawie’s work is in Moana Legacy at Tautai Gallery
6 July – 18 September, 2020

Born to a Kanak father and Anglo-Argentinian/European mother, Naawie Tutugoro is a Tāmaki Makaurau-born multi-disciplinary artist. Her practice comprises of site-specific works that illuminate negotiations of place and space specific to the urban Pasifika experience.

Tutugoro is currently living on Waiheke island, and has exhibited throughout Tāmaki Makaurau. Most recently, she collaborated with her friend and sculptor Jenny Takahasi Palmer on the exhibition ‘*subtleRESPECT’ at Window Gallery and is currently completing her Master of Fine Arts at ELAM.

“Hair discrimination and invisibility has been something I have become aware of growing up with afro hair.”

– Naawie Tutugoro, 2020

Growing up, especially as women, we are bombarded with contradicting desires and messages regarding beauty standards and self-acceptance. The idea of taming one’s hair is assimilation in practice, altering oneself to fit into the mould of what is considered acceptable.

“Bendy Rollers”, are a product used to alter the texture/style or hair speaking to ideas of cultural appropriation and fetishisation of black and brown bodies. By re-purposing the curlers as connections of a lei, Naawie dismantles the meanings attached to the material and in a decolonising act, the lei of hair curlers is transformed into an imagined umbilical cord to the spirit world.

Naawie Online
Instagram: @astonishing_coco_puff

More Information:
Moana Legacy, 6 July – 18 September 2020

For further information please email us
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Meet the Artist: Rangituhia Hollis

Using unconventional methods of digital media, Rangi exhibits video and print works which are interactive and contemplative

Rangi’s work is in Moana Legacy at Tautai Gallery
6 July – 18 September, 2020

“…Maybe in a few million years I’ll still be here to hear that star answer back. Somewhere still standing with you, still there above and roaring, well above, at the apex of all things, seeing our flaming sun dim above a dying world…”

– Excerpt from Across the Face of the Moon (2019)

Rangituhia Hollis (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu) is an artist, writer and educator. His practice employs a range of collaborative strategies, often resulting in large-scale digital animation video works or interactive social engagement projects that explore Aotearoa’s postcolonial context. He often develops work using emerging or unconventional technologies. He has exhibited throughout Aotearoa in leading public museums and galleries.

Rangi Online
Artists Website: rangituhia.com | Instagram: @rangituhia

More Information:
Moana Legacy, 6 July – 18 September 2020

For further information please email us
Tautai.org #tautai4lyfe

Meet the Artist: Mereani Qalovakawasa

Mereani explores the complexities of living with Lupus and being a Pacific Islander

Mereani’s work is in Moana Legacy at Tautai Gallery
6 July – 18 September, 2020

Brisbane-born Fijian artist Mereani Qalovakawasa uses her multidisciplinary practice to shed light on living with a chronic illness. Sharing her personal experiences living with the autoimmune disease – lupus, she aims to reduce the fear and shame of being sick, particularly in Pasifika communities.

In 2018, Qalovakawasa participated in her first exhibition with New Wayfinders called ‘Ocean Stories From Home’ at Connection Art Space, this will be her first time exhibiting in Aotearoa. 

Mereani’s illness and the experiences it brings to her life spark her use of online and computer-based media works. Filming on an old Big W camera, drawing using MS Paint and editing on MovieMaker, she depicts her own legacy through sharing the timeline of her health. These small clips give an intimate part of her journey through chemo and the battles she faces daily.

“Pacific people are often depicted as the image of vibrant health and beauty, physically strong and joyful, glowing brown skin, thick hair, skilled athletes and graceful dancers, laughing in the hot sun. My life isn’t bad, it’s just different from most people. I try to make life with a chronic illness as pleasant as I can. I find joy in making films to share a glimpse of my life.”

– Mereani Qalovakawasa, 2020

Mereani Online:
Instagram: @mereanitarau | YouTube: Mereani Qalovakawasa

More Information:
Moana Legacy, 6 July – 18 September 2020

For further information please email us.
Tautai.org #tautai4lyfe

Meet the Artists: Cora-Allan Wickliffe & Kelly Lafaiki

A sister collab that features objects of memory that connect them to their grandfather 

Cora-Allan and Kelly’s work is in Moana Legacy at Tautai Gallery
6 July – 18 September, 2020

Originally from Waitakere, Cora-Allan Wickliffe (Ngāpuhi, Tainui, Alofi and Liku) is a multi-disciplinary artist and curator, who likes to examine and explore representations of Indigenous people through her work. Her sister Kelly Lafaiki, based in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia) is a student of hiapo and has helped to collaborate on the exhibition piece.

Exploring themes of ceremony and memory we are re-tracing using silhouetted objects filled with the language of hiapo to share stories of Niue that were passed down at the food table from our grandparents.

Stories of Niue, dances, mena kai and songs were shared throughout our childhood in comfortable and often uncomfortable moments of learning dances and how to cook traditional dishes.

“Our grandparents guided us with stern voices when we were young but grew softer as we all aged. Time spent together over meals and over beers became an environment of admiration and learning.”

Cora-Allan Wickliffe, 2019

These moments would tie them to becoming hiapo makers and this current work explores the moments of mourning they experienced with the passing of their Grandfather Vakaafi Lafaiki in April 2019.

As a contemporary practitioner of hiapo (Niuean barkcloth), Wickliffe has revived a sleeping artform. Her work is very important to her community and has been exhibited in Australia, Aotearoa, England and Niue. Currently, Wickliffe is the curator and exhibitions manager at Corbans Estate Arts Centre.

Cora-Allan Online
Website: cora-allan.co.nz | Instagram: @coraallan.wickliffe

Kelly Lafaiki Online
Instagram: @dannykelly8567

More Information:
Moana Legacy @ Tautai Gallery, 6 July – 18 September 2020

For further information please email us.
Tautai.org #tautai4lyfe

Moana Legacy

Multi-disciplinary show that heralds Tautai’s new space

6^th July – 18^th September, 2020 
Tautai Gallery  Mon – Fri 11am – 4pm

Moana Legacy is Tautai’s first exhibition in its new gallery space, the show has been developed from an existing partnership with Blak Dot Gallery, Naarm (Melbourne) featuring moana artists working in both Aotearoa and Australia. Continuing the conversation in Tautai’s new expanded space in the heart of Auckland, this show offers up assorted approaches to the idea of legacy.

As artists of the moana, one often looks back to move forward, contemplating the connections to ancestors and finding a place within a narrative that is as deep as the ocean itself. Our ancestors left behind stories of legend with impressive characters, some continue to shape our contemporary stories of today. 

A legacy is the story of someone’s life, it is something that a person leaves behind to be remembered. Legacies are pathways that guide people with their own decision-making – inspiring them to build a legacy of their own.

With this in mind, the artists in this exhibition investigate notions of legacy  and their link to the moana. Featuring photography, installation, video, sculpture, hiapo and painting, Moana Legacy is a celebration of our own legacies and what it means to be an artist of the Pacific

Curated by Cora-Allan Wickliffe, this show features Ahsin Ahsin, Cora-Allan Wickliffe & Kelly Lafaiki, Gina Ropiha, Israel Randell, Mereani Qalovakawasa, Naawie Tutugoro, Rangituhia Hollis and Talia Smith.

Moana Legacy runs from 6 July – 18 September, 2020.

Moana Legacy is on at Tautai Gallery till 18 September 2020

For further information please email us 
Tautai.org #tautai4lyfe