Pan-Pacific Nation–March 3-28, 2009
A selection of contemporary Pacific Island art from Cook Islands, Fiji, Hawai‘i, New Zealand, Nuie, Samoa & Tonga.
Artists exhibiting:
Maile Andrade, Leanne Lupelele Clayton, Noelle M.K.Y. Kahanu, Leilani Kake,
Lily Laita, Nanette Lela‘ulu, Janet Lili, Carl F.K. Pao, Siliga David Setoga,
Ema Tavola, Angela Tiatia, Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi
Pan-Pacific Nation
The participating artists in this show were asked to respond to the complexities, contradictions, and power dynamics at stake in the notion of a “pan pacific.” Their pieces ask what it means to think about the affinities and unities of Oceania. What did it mean in the 1880s when Kalakaua initiated his call for a Pacific Island Federation? What did it mean in 1976, when Albert Wendt called for a “New Oceania” in the journal Mana, or when Epeli Hau’ofa wrote “Our Sea of Islands” in 1994? And what does it mean, given our current political, economic, environmental, and cultural seascape, at the present moment?
The pieces included in the show offer multilayered responses. They celebrate a continued and hopeful identification of Pacific Island peoples that share a strong genealogical history and geographic kinship, while also offering ambivalent considerations that uncover the subtle and specific localized histories involved in any strategic collective social identification.
The show explores these issues with a range of media that evoke the confluence of customary Pacific island visual culture with new technologies. Filipe Tohi (born in Tonga, and now living in New Zealand) has contributed one of his paintings based on lalava patterns. His geometric designs refer to a shared Oceanic lashing technology that made migration and trade possible. They act as metaphors for Polynesian expansion and unification. Native Hawaiian artist Maile Andrade’s metal woven sculpture will address the complicated dynamics of Kalakaua’s Pan Pacific Federation. Samoan artist Angela Tiatia will be showing her silent, slow motion, single shot video, See, 2008, which depicts the mouth and eye of a Pacific woman’s body as an allegorical site of exploration and exploitation.
Panel Discussion on the current state of Contemporary Pacific Art: The ARTS at Marks Garage, March 4th, 6pm: The panel includes Ema Tavola and Leilani Kake, and Giles Peterson. Ema Tavola, Leilani Kake, and Giles Peterson hail from South Auckland, NZ. Ema Tavola is a visual artist and curator of the Fresh Gallery Otara as the Pacific Arts for Manukau City. Leilani Kake is an independent artist. Giles Peterson teaches at Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design.
Special thanks to Jaimey Hamilton, Healoha Johnston, & Jeff Sanner
This exhibition was supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation
PanPacificEssay.pdf
Pan-Pacific Nation Essay, written by Jaimey Hamilton, Assistant Professor at The University of Hawaii in Manoa.
This essay will be featured in the Pan-Pacific Nation Catalog, available soon.