Posts from the ‘South Auckland’ category

#Twerk #SouthAuckland #ExpressYourself

Artist Ema

This is an ongoing project inspired by the #ExpressYourself social media campaign promoted by American DJ and producer, Diplo.

  • How Diplo’s #ExpressYourself campaign took on a life of it’s own… Read more here

In an effort to create a contribution to the campaign’s ongoing afterlife, I collaborated with artist Leilani Kake to photograph each other upside-down-twerking at various South Auckland locations. The perceived sexualisation and physicality of our bodies viewed from this angle has inspired feedback that reflects a broad range of attitudes from shock and shame to empowered support.

I have long been interested in the politics of fat, of brown skin and the male gaze. I’m interested that this series of photographs confronts and disgusts some people and empowers others.

Whilst making these photographs, Leilani and I have discussed body confidence, spatial politics and South Auckland… the ‘colonised butt’. As an experimental project existing as part performance / part virtual, it has been refreshing and engaging. The #ExpressYourself campaign is an engagement strategy I’m interested to reflect and weave into future projects.

SOUTH Issue 2

SOUTH Issue 2 (2013)
For the past six months I’ve worked with my long-time collaborator, Nigel Borell to produce a second issue of the free arts publication, SOUTH.

We established SOUTH in 2010 as co-editors and launched the first issue in January 2011 at Fresh Gallery Otara. Despite significant changes in budgets, energy and employment, Nigel persisted with the vision and Issue 2 was born. His hard work has attracted investment and financial support from Manukau Institute of Technology (Faculty of Creative Arts) and the Creative Communities Scheme, all of which has enabled me to return to the shared editorial role in a freelance capacity. We’re excited to be working with a new group of stakeholders and look forward to extending the investment opportunities for Issue 3!

Nigel and I have a close working relationship with Edgar Melitao, SOUTH’s design partner and artistic director. Choosing a front cover image is a highlight of the design and editorial process; it seems to bring everything together and galvanise the conviction of the publication.

I produced an experimental fashion editorial for SOUTH Issue 2 working with local designers Melissa Cole, Genevieve Pini and Tyrone Tautiepa. Shot on location in the South Auckland suburbs of Otara, Middlemore and Papatoetoe, the designers were challenged to research and develop, style and direct their own shoots with photographer, Vinesh Kumaran.

 

The SOUTH Issue 2 cover shot was styled and art directed by Otara-based Samoan artist and designer, Genevieve Pini. Pairing her own design, the Miss Lavalava skirt (featured in the 2012 Cult Couture fashion award show) with a limited edition chopped & screwed YOU LOVE MY FRESH t-shirt by Tanu Gago (a Mangere-based Samoan artist) she wanted her image to be fierce and empowered, and to represent an homage to her hood.

As a cover, this image represents the defiant and robust nature of the South Auckland arts sector: its strength, urbanity, Pacific Island cultural richness and unique vernacular. As a representation of the Pacific Island body, it is empowered, relatively unedited and unapologetically XXL. As the model and producer of this image, I love that it enabled an artist to engineer her own representation.

SOUTH is a free annual arts publication published by Toi o Manukau. It is available at art centres and libraries throughout South Auckland and at selected art spaces in the Auckland region.

Join SOUTH on Facebook to comment, share and engage with the SOUTH community.

Two excellent new exhibitions opening this weekend in #SouthAuckland

Postcard

Margaret Aull’s Concealed Ancestors

I’m currently writing about Fijian-Māori visual artist, Margaret Aull’s new work for her upcoming exhibition, Concealed Ancestors.

I met Margaret in 2008 in Suva, Fiji – we were both part of the Vasu: Pacific Women of Power project at the Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture at the University of the South Pacific. Since then, we’ve worked together on a number of projects and I’ve enjoyed seeing her work shift and change.

Margaret’s work is intentionally and unintentionally a declaration of her cultural position as a Fijian-Māori / Māori-Fijian. She has made work exploring flags, identity and ownership, as in the work Kiwi mate (2011) [above] and explored political similarities and colonial struggle of both Fiji and Aotearoa.

In a review in Eyeline magazine (Issue 73), Tessa Laird describes Margaret’s work, Tino Rangatiratanga and Coups (2010)as, “a broken composition that is part flag, part museum display case, with fragmented artifacts subjected to colonial categorisation and branding”. The work was created for the exhibition Native Coconut at Fresh Gallery Otara featuring three artists who share both Māori and Pacific Island ancestry.

Last year, Margaret trialled collaborating with a graphic designer to develop the work Fiji ki Aotearoa (2011) which was shown in the exhibition diasporadic679 at various venues in Ōtāhuhu in acknowledgment of Fiji Independence Day.

The work in Concealed Ancestors is a further shift in thinking and aesthetic consideration. The exhibition showcases a series of works on paper and a sculptural installation. Produced as part of Margaret’s post-graduate studies, the work is an in-depth visual enquiry into the concept of tapu / tabu or sacredness informed in part by a recent trip to Fiji and time spent at the Fiji Museum.

Concealed Ancestors runs from 12 January – 23 February 2013 at Papakura Art Gallery, 10 Averill Street, Papakura, South Auckland

Miss Lavalava Genevieve Pini #PacificArt #SouthAuckland

I modeled this skirt for Otara-based Samoan artist and designer, Genevieve Pini for an experimental fashion editorial in the upcoming issue of SOUTH, coming out January 2013. Genevieve has often talked about how much she wanted the garments she created for South Auckland’s annual fashion and wearable art competition, Cult Couture, to be modeled by chunkier models. The editorial was an opportunity for each of the invited designers to present their garments, style and ideas in a way they had complete control over. Genevieve identified this alleyway near where she lives in Otara; she wanted to show her hood, her environment, her comfort zone as her inspiration. It came together really nicely and I can’t wait to see the final images in print.

With a few additions, this piece entitled Miss Lavalava was customised to fit me for the SOUTH photo shoot. The garment was made for the Recycled Revolution category of this year’s Cult Couture event. It is made of a recycled rice sack, a nylon carry-bag and meters and meters of fabric scraps. Genevieve observed the construction technique on a recent trip to Samoa where it is commonly used to make floor mats for the bathroom and doorway areas.

I also loved wearing Miss Lavalava to the 2012 Arts Pasifika Awards in Wellington earlier this month where it attracted a lot of attention! I was proud to represent an artist from South Auckland whose practice I’ve been watching and appreciating for the past 10 years.