Tautai presents ‘The Last Kai’ from tapa-making duo Tui Emma Gillies and Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows
Generational discussions between mother and daughter tapa-making duo Tui Emma Gillies & Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows MNZM in two works The Last Kai and Woman on the Cross 2022AD.
Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows and Tui Emma Gillies. The Last Kai, 2022. Falevai and Tongatapu beaten tapa cloth, Umea/Earth dye from Vava’u, mangrove root dye, black Indian ink, acrylic and watercolours, 500 x 250 cm (detail).
The Last Kai, an exhibition opening Saturday 28 January at Tautai Pacific Contemporary Arts Trust, presents two previously exhibited works by Tui Emma Gillies & Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows MNZM.
“If The Last Supper was happening in this day and age, we’d hope to see a few more women sitting around the table. And maybe even one at the head of the table.” - Tui Emma Gillies
The Last Kai exhibition cleverly uses The Last Supper and familiar religious iconography from within Pacific homes to bring up current discussions around women’s representation and the role of Christianity in the modern Pacific household.
Across two works by the pair, The Last Kai (2022) and Woman on the Cross 2022AD (2022), they concurrently contemporise the depictions of religious figures within their tapa works, and contemporise customary tapa-making. Adding colour pigment where it would traditionally be black and brown, putting a woman in the place of Jesus on the cross, people wearing Covid-safe masks at the last supper, the works read as a lively discussion at the symbolic dinner table. The table being a place where anything can be questioned, even religion and the place of women in 2023. The artistic offerings of Tui and Sulieti are representative of their close relationship and passion for art, and through these deeply personal works, it feels like we gain insight into their mother-daughter dynamic.
Please join us for The Last Kai celebration on Tuesday 14 February, 6pm at Tautai Gallery.
Exhibition details:
The Last Kai
Tui Emma Gillies and Sulieti Fieme’a Burrows
Tuesday 7 February – Saturday 18 February, 2023
Read more about the artists and the show here.