Summary"I referenced navigation, migration and way-finding by using star patterns from my malu, stitching with wool also suggesting navigation and plotting of journeys. The semi circles representing the sun also reference hemispheres.”
Linda Va’aelua is a visual artist of Samoan (Magiagi, Saleaula, Lano and Samata), Palagi and Scottish descent. Her work looks closely at her cultural background, namely her mixed Samoan and Scottish lineage, as well as her position as a Tagata Moana artist within the Samoan diaspora in Aotearoa. Her strong connection to family sees ties to her parents, husband and children throughout her practice. As an extension of this interrelatedness, Linda combines Scottish and Samoan references within her art, further exploring the parallels between the history of wayfinding and navigation and claiming one’s unique cultural identity.
Creative Process
“My recent work has been exploring my identity and mixed heritage of Samoa and Scotland through abstract maunga forms and malu patterns. During my Fale-ship residency I developed this visual language further. I mostly paint on discarded coffee bean hessian sacks. Instead of treating each piece of hessian as a complete artwork, I painted abstract maunga and semi-circles (representing the sun) on separate pieces. Once dry, I pieced them together to create a ‘banner’ artwork.”
Linda’s materials for the Fale-ship include painted hessian coffee bean bags and star patterns from her malu implying navigation and the plotting of journeys. Other motifs like semi circles, stand in for the sun and hemispheres. Stamped words on hessian suggest exports and modern migration. Superimposed banners with abstract patterns contrasted against the ancient stone wall of a Scottish castle point to a melding of cultures. The resulting works are an amalgamation of signifiers that indicate a nuanced relationship with heritage and identity.
Final Work - Part 1 & 2
Much of Linda’s work for her Fale-ship Residency plays with the base idea of heraldry (a connector to her Scottish heritage) with the banner works she has created containing familial and cultural identifiers. For her Fale-ship final artworks, she has combined smaller hessian paintings together to form larger banners. She photographed the banners hanging out of her own studio window in Aotearoa and superimposed them onto an image of a Scottish castle and an image of a Samoan fale. Within the banners, there are little clues of the artist’s story; a pattern that evokes the Livingston clan tartan of her grandfather, the ancient motifs from the Samoan malu that adorn her legs, the blue of the Moana, a banner with a pointed edge shaped like it might’ve been hung in that same Scottish castle.
The collaged banners planted digitally in Samoa, Scotland, and Aotearoa, think about the concept of Vā; the Vā between herself and her culture, between Samoa and Aotearoa, between Samoa and Scotland, as well as the Vā between familial relationships that had broken down and the Vā between herself and God. In this simple action, Linda digitally traverses the Moana, connecting herself and connecting Samoa, Scotland and Aotearoa.
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