Summary“I am Pasifika & Afakasi. My mother is from Avatele, Niue. I was born in Auckland; however, I was not raised by Niue. When I was a young person, I was raised within the Marsters famsz, Kuki Airani. I currently reside in Ōtautahi with my partner and 7-year-old.”
Jeffrey Kalauta is a New Zealand-born Niuean music producer and digital media artist. His work ranges from hip hop tracks to experimental audio-visual work. Often looking back to his ancestral homeland of Niue, Jeffrey explores cultural knowledge and challenging the presumed superiority of western thinking. He also currently studying Law at Canterbury University, and is interested in international law, trade, and rights of indigenous peoples in the Pacific region.
Creative Process
For the Fale-ship he explored Epeli’s Hau’ofa’s ‘Our Sea of Islands’. Through original composition and digital mediums, Jeffery created A’A, a transnational deity. A chameleon, the Kaitiaki. A’A appears and disappears across time past and present.
“In Hau’ofa’s article he disputes the presumed superiority of western thinking, which confines the Pacific to dependent, isolated islands within the Pacific ocean. Hau’ofa invites us not to be confined by the colonial term; Pacific Island; but to look past and adopt the holistic description of Oceania, an expansive world with endless resources of interrelated islands and peoples. As Pasifika, we see our surrounding world holistically, which includes not just the land but the Moana, the heavens, the stars, and the underworld. We know this from the rich and diverse cultural stories of our heroes with significant powers from ancient times that continue to be told through generations.”
With this in mind, Jeffery’s current depiction show’s A’A appearing in full splendour during colonial times. As protector, A’A represents the cultural veneration that binds us together in heritage and tradition.
With the words of Hau’ofa in mind, Jeffery created A’A.
“A’A is a transnational deity. A chameleon, the Kaitiaki. A’A appears and disappears across time past and present. The current depiction show’s A’A appearing in full splendour during colonial times. As protector, A’A represents the cultural veneration that binds us together in heritage and tradition. Our tupuna that bestows us the opportunity to connect holistically with our physical surroundings. A’A warns of respecting cultural knowledge. In the face of more powerful and dominant (Palagi) belief systems, our ancestors remind us to dispute the presumed superiority of western thinking. We should not diminish the extent and significance of Pacific cultural knowledge, which is vast, reaching out both physically and now digitally across the Moana.”
Check out Jeffery’s final works in this video, using his original composition!
“The ability to tell stories that extend our cultural knowledge into new areas fundamentally secures the next generation’s voice. Heritage is everything; It is bestowed on us by our ancestors. It is endowed upon us by nature. Hau’ofa reminds us not to be confined by the definitions of others but to see through the actions of our people, through our own eyes how vast Oceania truly is. We are not small, poor, and isolated. As we wake up to ancient truth and reject the tiny spaces, we embrace our expansive cultural, political, and economic richness as people of Oceania.”
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