#2girls1conference Art Auction: Ema Tavola

Ema Tavola

Title: Unsettled Earth Pylon City
Date: 2006
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Dimensions: 865x1200mm

Artist Statement

Pylon gazing in Otara, after the rain.
Missing home.

Bio

Ema Tavola is a South Auckland-based visual artist, writer and curator of Fijian / New Zealand Pākehā ancestry. Having established her art practice at the Oceania Centre for Arts, Culture and Pacific Studies at the University of the South Pacific (Suva, Fiji), Tavola went on to complete a Bachelor of Visual Arts at the University of Auckland. She has exhibited in group shows in Auckland, Suva and Hawai’i and presented her first solo exhibition, BLOOD + BONE at the House of Taonga showroom in Auckland in 2009. In a curatorial capacity, Tavola has delivered numerous exhibitions at Fresh Gallery Otara, in addition to collaborative projects and exhibitions for ARTSPACE, Auckland Art Gallery, Mangere Arts Centre, Papakura Art Gallery and Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts.

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#2girls1conference Art Auction: Tanu Gago

Tanu Gago

Title: Peter + William
Date: 2012
Edition: Artist Proof
Series: Avanoa O Tama
Medium: Photographic Print on Archival Crystal Matte
Dimensions: 841x594mm

Artist Statement

As a Pacific Gay Male I have struggled over time to identify a clear distinction of Pacific masculinity I feel comfortable relating to. Searching for a cohesive sense of self and a recognizable sense of presence within the world we occupy, has lead me to this point in my artistic journey.

The Avanoa O Tama series presents a visual narrative that observes, critiques and articulates Pacific male identity in all its forms and with all its complexity, looking at the performance of our own unique perception of what it means to be a Pacific Male in the 21st century.

Bio

Born in Samoa and raised in Manukau City, Tanu Gago belongs to a large family with a diverse cultural background. Gago draws on his unique perspective and life in South Auckland to make art that directly engages with urban social issues including the fluid nature of ethnic and gender identities. Gago held his first solo exhibition, YOU LOVE MY FRESH at Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts in 2010 and later developed his first photographic series, Jerry the Fa’afafine (In The Manner of a Samoan Man) for Mana Takatāpui: Taera Tāne curated by Reuben Friend for City Gallery Wellington in 2011. His follow-up series, Avanoa O Tama was developed for a solo exhibition at Fresh Gallery Otara in South Auckland and went on to be shown as part of Home AKL at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki in 2012. Gago’s work features in private and public collections including Auckland Council, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki and University of Auckland. He holds a Bachelor of Performing Arts majoring in Directing for Film & Television from Unitec.

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#2girls1conference Limited Edition Art T-shirts, proudly made in #SouthAuckland!

Leilani Kake and my fundraising efforts to get to the Pacific Arts Association International Symposium in August are gaining real momentum!

A 25-day campaign on the New Zealand crowdfunding website, PledgeMe was an enormous success – we were overwhelmed with the support from our communities and networks on and offline. This initial fundraising effort attracted over $4000 of support which covers the bulk of our return airfares to Canada! A HUGE Thank You to everyone who pledged, shared, liked and retweeted to support our cause.

Part of our fundraising effort has been the design and production of a limited edition art t-shirt which we were able to hand-print using the excellent facilities at Manukau Institute of Technology. Tepora Malo, a third year student studying at the Faculty of Creative Arts worked as our intern on the project – we all learned a lot about the four color printing process and talked for long hours about art making and money making. Otara artist, activist and recent graduate, Amiria Puia-Taylor was our first choice to model the t-shirt for us. Her position on community awareness and artistic empowerment is particularly refreshing and she definitely represents the concept of REAL TALK! We also benefited from the very promising expertise of first year student, Sean Atavenitia who created our promotional photography. The whole initiative has been a really rewarding, Made in South Auckland experience!

The limited edition #2girls1conference art t-shirt is on sale now for $50!

We also have a limited amount of canvas shoulder bags for $30 and $15 repurposed jumbo tote bags from the slightly imperfect printed t-shirts!

Come find us at the GROUNDED Festival of Sustainable Arts Pop-Up Market from 10am – 5pm on Saturday 29 June, 50 Lovegrove Crescent, Otara, South Auckland, or click here to submit a sales enquiry.

#2girls1conference and Fresh Gallery Otara

Leilani Kake and I are due to launch our first collaborative fundraising initiative tomorrow. We’re aiming to raise around NZ$6000 to support our travel and participation in the 11th International Symposium of the Pacific Arts Association in Vancouver, Canada in August. Read more here.

Tomorrow, we launch our crowdfunding campaign via PledgeMe

We chose May 26 to mark the actual anniversary of Fresh Gallery Otara, the community arts facility I managed from 2006-2012 within my previous role of Pacific Arts Coordinator for Auckland Council (previously Manukau City Council). Leilani and I have spent the best part of the past decade working tirelessly to support and contribute to the Pacific arts and South Auckland creative sectors; for most of the time Fresh Gallery Otara was the epicenter of those efforts.

I left the role at Council in 2012 after significant organisational changes compromised my principles as well as what I felt was a level of innovation and service that the South Auckland arts community deserved. Since my departure, I’ve observed further changes that have shifted the Gallery away from its founding philosophies. Since 2006, Fresh Gallery Otara’s anniversary was marked with exhibitions and events that honoured the community, local artists and themes pertinent to Otara. This year there are no such celebrations; the Auckland Triennial‘s presence in Otara is a dislocated exhibition, culturally and geographically isolated from an arts programme that has little to no value for Pacific communities in South Auckland.

Further to that, currently the personnel situated at the public interface of the Gallery represent a heartbreaking level of ignorance for the nuances of arts promotion and discourse within the unique socio-cultural environment of Otara and South Auckland.

Whilst Leilani and I are now both embedded in other pursuits within the education sectors, we remember and acknowledge Fresh Gallery Otara’s role, mana and history, particularly at this time.

Opening Fresh with Leisa Siteine (2006)

Fresh at ARTSPACE (2009)

The Golden Era!

Janet Lilo’s “Top 16” at Fresh (2007)

The last Pacific Arts Summit (2012)

Chocolate Mudcake birthday cake (2011)

Fresh 2.0 #SouthAuckland

on March 26, 2013

Fresh Gallery Otara was established in May 2006 by Manukau City Council in partnership with the Otara community in South Auckland. As the manager and driver of Fresh, I produced 66 exhibitions from 2006-2012; I invested my blood, sweat and tears into the Gallery and loved my job but in June 2012, I left the role. The then Curatorial / Gallery Assistant, Nicole Lim took the reigns and has overseen the Gallery’s recent refurbishment and significant expansion.

This week, Fresh Gallery Otara re-opens as a new space under new leadership. I have unwavering support and loyalty to Nicole Lim and I can’t wait to see her first show in the new space.

Juan Castillo is a Chilean artist who produced a multifaceted work called Minimal-Baroque in 2006 as part of his residency at what was then Manukau School of Visual Arts. He collaborated with Otara artist, Leilani Kake to film a series of vox pops at Fresh Gallery Otara, asking members of the community and visitors to Fresh, “What is Art?”

The video is a historical and fascinating insight into community perceptions of the word ‘art’ – I’m so glad Nicole has chosen to re-show it.

Vinesh Kumaran is a long-time collaborator and his input into Fresh Gallery Otara, SOUTH publication and the Pacific Arts Summits has been significant. His excellent series shot for the exhibition South Style (2009) is being re-shown and like Minimal-Baroque, exists as a historical record of South Auckland social history.

Fresh 2.0 is an exhibition that recognises the legacy of Fresh Gallery Otara, its significant relationships with Manukau Institute of Technology’s Faculty of Creative Arts (previously known as Manukau School of Visual Arts) and its enormous potential as a hub for creativity in the heart of grassroots South Auckland.

Great job, Nicole and go well, Fresh!

Ōtāhuhu: Arts, culture + community

on March 18, 2013

I invest about a fifth of my time into community projects, one of which is the Ōtāhuhu Arts and Culture Sub-Committee of the Ōtāhuhu Steering Group. I’ve been a member for the past two years and the Secretary for past nine months. The South Auckland suburb is a hotbed of arts and culture; the collective aims to raise awareness, connect creative and cultural practitioners and lobby the Council to establish a dedicated arts facility for the community.

We have a young blog: http://otahuhuartsandculture.com/
And an emerging following on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/OtahuhuArtsAndCulture

This Saturday we’re excited to be part of the Ōtāhuhu Family Fun Day at Fairburn Reserve. We were involved in the Christmas festivities and facilitated a recycled Christmas card making activity with local children.

On Saturday we’ll be making lolly and ribbon garlands and presenting a series of art demonstrations including Niuean weaving, traditional Indian Mehndi and aerosol painting!

Some great events happen in Ōtāhuhu, one of which is coming up this week. On Wednesday 20 March, the Ōtāhuhu Library is hosting a debate between students from McAuley High School and De La Salle College on, South Auckland: Is it where I want to be?

This promises to be an excellent event; it kicks off at 5.30pm. Congratulations to Ōtāhuhu Library for facilitating such an exciting discussion – I can’t wait!

For more information on Ōtāhuhu Arts and Culture join us on Facebook!

Tanu Gago, Artist Talk, #SouthAuckland

on March 14, 2013

South Auckland new media artist Tanu Gago is giving an artist talk at 1.30pm, Friday 22 March at Te Matariki Clendon Library, Manurewa, South Auckland.

He will be discussing his recent work and interests in the representation of Samoan masculinity. Tanu is a trained film maker who has been making gallery-based video and photography work since 2009. Since his first solo exhibition, YOU LOVE MY FRESH (2010), he has gone on to show at City Gallery Wellington, Fresh Gallery Otara, Auckland Art Gallery and the Harris Gallery at the University of La Verne, California. His 2011 series, Jerry the Fa’afafine is on permanent display at Mangere Art Centre – Ngā Tohu o Uenuku in South Auckland.

“Leo”, Jerry the Fa’afafine series (2010) by Tanu Gago with Vinesh Kumaran

I’m excited to see Tanu speaking about his work within a South Auckland context; I’m taking a group of students from MIT Faculty of Creative Arts and we’re all relieved we don’t have to go to Auckland for what promises to be a grounded and engaging discussion relevant to Pacific people and South Auckland.

#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.

#ConcealedAncestors Works for Sale

Concealed Ancestors
A solo exhibition by Margaret Aull

Works for Sale

Transferred

Acrylic, ochre, graphite, ink, 24-carat gold leaf on paper

$1900

Framed 700 x 932mm

SOLD

Urenui

Acrylic, aerosol, ink on paper

$1200

Framed 619 x 824mm

SOLD

Re-configure ethnographic

Acrylic, graphite, ink on paper

$1600

Framed 700 x 932mm

Mata Rangatira

Acrylic, ink on paper

$1200

Framed 619 x 824mm

SOLD

I told you it started here!

Ochre, graphite, ink, 24-carat gold leaf on paper

$1900

Framed 700 x 932mm

SOLD

Haere mai, Vanua

Acrylic, ink, ochre on paper

$2500

Framed 905 x 1218mm

SOLD

Whakapapa transfer station

Acrylic, graphite, ink, 24-carat gold leaf on paper

$1900

Framed 700 x 932mm

SOLD

Matakau [installation]

2-pac gloss acrylic, Totara

$4500

Dimensions variable

Pacific – niger

Acrylic, ink, ochre on paper

$1600

Framed 700 x 932mm

E Moemoea

Acrylic, ochre on paper

$1600

Framed 700 x 932mm

All works 2012, mounted on acid free mat board, framed using UV-reflective glass.

Prices listed in New Zealand dollars.

Framed dimensions refer to the size of the glass, actual size is approximately 50mm larger.

The exhibition Concealed Ancestors (12 January – 23 February 2013) at Papakura Art Gallery was supported with funding from the Pacific Arts Committee, Creative New Zealand and Toi o Manukau.

Read more about Concealed Ancestors here

Contact Ema Tavola for further information and sales enquiries: Mb (NZ) 027 5779369 / Email Ema.Tavola@clear.net.nz

SOUTH Issue 2

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.