Transcript
The Cold Islanders exhibition explores the adjustments Pacific migrants had to make when they came to Aotearoa, New Zealand.
It also explores the continued feelings of displacement and stereotyping felt by their descendants.
The exhibition's curator Leafa Wilson was born and raised in the North Island town of Tokoroa and she says she can relate to how her forebears must have felt.
"The islands, you think of warmth, being sweaty and run around with, you know, just a nice lavalava and a nice top, but here in Aotearoa, we're doing the same thing except it's freezing, so always in my head that what is this made us into? Not a negative, not a positive, it's just that we are different."
The artists are second or third-generation New Zealanders who identify as Pacific islanders, yet have little connection with the islands.
"Almost all of these works come from quite a dislocated place from the island home. It's the crucial point of the exhibition, being dislocated. That's not to say that they're lost, but this is an acknowledgement of this generation of artists who are not island base. That they're of Pacific descent. Some more so than others. Some fitting more so than others, some more comfortable than others. Many of the works are within that spectrum of kind of comfort to discomfort."
Ka-Lani Ianusi has canvases and a plywood artwork on display and her singing will launch the exhibition which features the work of 29 artists.
She is of Samoan, Australian and Danish descent.
"It's interesting because I got some funny genetics. I don't look Samoan at all, you know, I've got the hair, that's about it. People haven't been able to put me in a box. I've only had external identities projected onto me anyway, so I kind of had to learn to cope with that from an early age. Just the feeling of displacement and the disenfranchisement culturally."
Ms Ianusi says her mixed heritage has not made life easy.
"There's always that fia Palagi attitude, you know, in the background there. I struggled with it for a long time until I found that it was actually a strength. What I thought was a weakness is now a strength, so I'm using it to express my Polynesian heritage with different eyes. Coming from a different perspective. I can't really say I complain about it now. If anything, I use it as arsenal."
Artist and Fine Arts Lecturer Christopher Ulutupu has produced a triptych video artwork exploring the theme of displacement.
"The term 'The Cold Islanders' comes from responding to going against what people perceive as being Pacific islander means and I think people kind of give in to the stereotypes and the troupes that we know, the Samoan jokes, the islander jokes, the Samoan lady underneath a coconut tree, those kind of things. I think this is the antithesis of that and trying to break down some of those stereotypes."
Mr Ulutupu says he was turned down for a scholarship because his work didn't reflect Pacific values and that's made him question what it means to be a Pacific artist.
"I'm a Pacific islander. I'm Samoan making it. I'm all about supporting young artists and supporting Pacific artists specifically, but like there's also the danger of influencing the research or kind of categorising people before they even started to do anything."
Photography and performing arts are also among art works at the Cold Islanders show which opens on Saturday.
