Two new exhibitions open at Tautai Gallery from Indigenous-led creative collective Studio Kiin and Samoan producer and sound artist Anonymouz
Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust is excited to announce two new exhibitions opening 12 August, Haus of Memories by Indigenous-led creative collective Studio Kiin and lean into the pain: archives of a tatau thesis by Samoan creative producer and sound artist Anonymouz.
Haus of Memories is an ongoing and continually evolving residency project developed by Studio Kiin, a collective of Indigenous creatives from around the globe who work to normalise story sovereignty, cultivate kinship and prioritise healing in creative practice. In this iteration, Elsie Andrewes, Natasha Ratuva and Emele Ugavule present work that explores the domestication of memory institutions through elevating the bedroom as archive.
Anonymouz’s work spans traditional music composition and production through to experimental avant-garde sound art and integrated video. lean into the pain: archives of a tatau thesis presents a deeply personal exhibition of sound, video and installation exploring the practice of tatau as a framework for life, as seen through his own experiences since receiving tatau from the āiga Sā Su’ā Suluape clan in 2015.
Haus of Memories and lean into the pain: archives of a tatau thesis are on at Tautai Gallery from Friday 12 August until Saturday 8 October 2022
Anonymouz | lean into the pain: archives of a tatau thesis
Anonymouz, lean into the pain – Resample Tatau
Award-winning producer and sound artist Anonymouz returns to his early Tautai roots to present lean into the pain: archives of a tatau thesis, a deeply personal multimedia exhibition that explores his thesis on the Indigenous practice of tatau being an analogue metaphor, philosophy and framework for lived experience.
“When someone receives tatau, they are instructed to not fight the pain, but to relax and lean into it so that the ink will hold. To submit to it and endure it willingly. To overcome self-imposed limiting beliefs that hold us hostage to not only the things outside of our control, but most of all, to ourselves,” says Anonymouz (aka Faiumu Matthew Salapu).
“Having willingly endured the painful choices we all bravely have to make every day at varying degrees of scale, metaphorically, our traumatised skin is eventually healed and replaced over time by new skin bearing beautiful sacred artistic markings of old; archives passed down physically in the analogue.”
Featuring unreleased archives of audio, video and theatre compositions from recent projects that explore the intersections of Fa’asāmoa and Hip Hop philosophy, this exhibition also represents the organic evolving of “Resample Tatau”, Anonymouz’s immersive new work developed during his 2021 Massey University Toi Rauwhārangi Pasifika Artist in Residence, which was scheduled to premiere at the NZ Festival of the Arts before it was cancelled due to Covid restrictions.
Exhibition details:
lean into the pain: archives of tatau series
Anonymouz
Friday 12 August – Saturday 8 October 2022
OPENING EVENT: Friday 12 August, 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Studio Kiin | Haus of Memories
Haus of Memories is a multidisciplinary residency project led by Studio Kiin that explores and gathers fragments of how we archive and draw upon memory to honour our future past. Local artists, communities and friends are invited to contribute and engage with text, visual art and live performance that embodies and unpacks how we remember ourselves as Indigenous peoples. Each iteration builds upon the last.
In this iteration at Tautai Gallery, Haus of Memories, explores the domestication of memory institutions through elevating the bedroom as archive. Elsie Andrewes, Natasha Ratuva and Emele Ugavule draw upon illustration, photography, sound, and installations to imagine past, present and future expressions of their iTaukei blood memory within the comfort of their bedrooms.
“iTaukei have used many forms of archiving to embed our memories. Our rich oral traditions, ceremonial practices and skillful use of natural material have retained vast landscapes of knowledge and data. Today, the mediums of archiving expand to suit our ever changing world,” says Natasha Ratuva.
Haus of Memories has been presented at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery (Boorloo, Whadjuk Noongar Boodja, 2021) and Cool Change Contemporary (Boorloo, Whadjuk Noongar Boodja, 2021). Previous collaborators have included The Amateka Series, Taonga Sendama, N’Gadie Roberts, Rusty Risque, and Sereana Suguturaga.
Studio Kiin is an Indigenous led creative studio founded by Emele Ugavule. They are a family of storytellers who are working to normalise story sovereignty, cultivate kinship and prioritise healing in creative practice. They are passionate about empowering artists and organisations to lead with culturally responsive, ethical and sustainable creative practice.
Exhibition details:
Haus of Memories
Studio Kiin: Elsie Andrewes, Natasha Ratuva and Emele Ugavule
Friday 12 August – Saturday 20 July 2022
OPENING EVENT: Friday 12 August, 6:30pm - 8:00pm
For further information, high-res image request and interviews, contact:
Samantha McKegg
Communications Advisor, Tautai Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust
E media@tautai.org
M 021 134 7520
Tautai Gallery, Level 1, 300 Karangahape Road, Auckland Central
Open 10am–4pm, Tuesday–Friday | 11am – 4pm, Saturdays