Loketi Niua Latu: May 2011

The Australia Contemporary Pacific Arts Trust was founded 16 June 2010 and is a collective initiative of Pacific artists and curators based in Melbourne, Australia. It was born out of a meeting of like-minded artists and curators Shigeyuki Kihara, Maryann Talia Pau, Sana Balai and Loketi Niua Latu as issues were raised that there is a need for Pacific artists and supporters to come together to nurture the development of Contemporary Pacific arts in Australia.

First APAN dinner - Shigeyuki Kihara's Apartment - June 2010
1. Shigeyuki Kihara, Maryann Talia Pau & Loketi Niua Latu
2. Marie-Channel Dwyer & Ann Fuata
3. Dr Sione 'Akau'ola, Rita Hinekauia Morrison, Jules Sharman & Dee Stanton
4. Ranu James, Emeretta Cross & Sana Balai

ACPAT is a non profit organisation which aims to help nurture, foster and develop the contemporary pacific arts movement in Australia. As a NGO it continues to pursue its goals through promoting and providing profile to Pacific heritage artists and their work. It operates on the understanding that the artists remain independent of ACPAT and come together through the ACPAT connection to participate in arts events.

1. Leuli Esraghi & Patrice Pauc
2.Maryann & Sana
3. Namila & Emeretta
4. Lisa Hilli & Sana

After four amasing dinners from 2010 - 2011 hosted by Shigeyuki Kihara & Loketi Niua Latu, Rita Hinekauia Morrison, Namila Benson and Julie Tipene-O'Toole, ACPAT is boldly moving forward with its formalisation process in June 2011 with a new working title The Australia Pacific Arts Network.

A draft Constitution was formulated by Dr Guy Powles and we will be holding our first Inaugural General Meeting next month.

APAN Dinner at Rita Hinekauia Morrison's - August 2010
1. Sana & Jules
2. Loketi & Maryann
3. Connor Holmes & Leuli
4. Rita & Maryann

New Zealand based co-founder Shigeyuki Kihara who is of Samoan and Japanese heritage will be in Australia this month and will be gracing us with her presence at our first Inaugural Meeting.

Website
http://www.shigeyukikihara.com

Shigeyuki Kihara

Yuki rehearsing for the Emerge Fest with the Kiribati & Sudanese Communities in Melbourne 2010

Yuki at Victorian College of the Arts for Talanoa: Walk The Talk VII 2010

Yuki directing the Court Performance at the National Gallery of Victoria 2010

Dinner at Brook's 2010
Artists' Brook Andrew, Shigeyuki Kihara, Loketi Niua Latu & Indigenous Anthropologist Marcia Langton

APAN is looking forward to providing a 2012 - 2013 Pacific arts program and entering a new phase of solidifying it's place in the Melbourne Arts scene. Please come support all of us by attending, sharing the rich, diverse cultures of the Pacific through the arts!

Mana Couture Collection 2010 by Maryann Talia Pau
Fashioning The Mana
1. Batman Who?
2. Mana Blues
3. Plate Up
4. Untitled

Mana Couture Collection 2010 by Maryann Talia Pau
1. City Chic Wahine
2. Back of City Chic Wahine
3. Faamolemole pe, mafai ona tatou lalaga faatasi - Please can I weave with you?
4. Mo lo'u Tama - For My Dad

The talented Maryann Talia Pau (APAN co-founder) is of Samoan heritage and her work begins with Mana Couture jewellery and adornment as a means to explore ceremony, place and identity. She is also doing some amasing things with the Pacific Women's Weaving Circle, a weaving group she founded, so keep an eye out for the weaving times held every month, in various parts of Melbourne with co-founder Lisa Hilli.

Check out her Pacific bling via her webpage, where her 2011 Autumn/Winter Collection is now on sale!

Maryann Talia Pau
http://www.maryanntaliapau.net

Pacific Women's Weaving Circle

http://www.facebook.com/pacificwomensweavingcircle

Also check out her collaboration with Melbourne's Social Studios!
http://www.thesocialstudio.org/The_Social_Studio___Remixed_Design/TSS.html

Rebirth by Maryann Talia Pau 2011
Social Studios Collaboration

Social Studios Collaboration 2011

The beautiful Maryann Talia Pau and her husband Mark Yettica-Paulsen

Namila Benson wearing Empress by Maryann Talia Pau 2010

We are blessed to have the ABC's Journalist, Radio broadcaster Namila Benson who hails from Tolai in Papua New Guinea putting our projects out there via radio and television!

http://www.abc.net.au/arts/stories/s3147962.htm

Namila Benson wearing Flash Plate by Maryann Talia Pau - part of her 2011 Collection

Flash Plate 2011 by Maryann Talia Pau
Model: Our very own Marie-Channel Dwyer
Photos by: Lisa Hilli

Style with Mana 2011 by Maryann Talia pau
Photos by Lisa Hilli
1. Matt Rua wearing Chief
2. Clinton George
3. Sydney Asiata

Lisa Hilli's Just Like Home Installation

Lisa Hilli is from Tolai, Papua New Guinea and is instrumental in documenting our artistic journey through the lens of her camera. An irreplaceable asset to the ACPAT members!

Check out details of Lisa Hilli's 2010 National Tour - Just Like Home

http://www.brisbanepowerhouse.org/events/view/just-like-home/

APAN Dinner at Namila Benson's - November 2010
1. Brook Andrew, Namila & friend
2. Lisa Hilli & Loketi
3. Taloi Havini, Pauline Vetuna & Namila's Dad
4. Paia & Ranu

Pauline Vetuna (Tolai, Papua New Guinea) has an amasing voice when it comes to writing! Check out her blog
http://paulinevetuna.wordpress.com

1. Geraldine Barlow, Salote Tawale & Namila
2. Jules Tipene-O'Toole, Mark Yettica-Paulsen, Vaidas Stalioraitis, Brook Andrew, Marcia Langton
3. Leuli & Mark
4. Julie, Rita & Maryann

Salote Tawale's show is back in Melbourne next month! Check it out!
http://www.ccp.org.au/exhibitions.php?f=CCP_Shop_Space

Unnerved Exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria 2010
Lisa Hilli, Loketi Niua Latu, Lisa Reihana, Maryann Talia Pau & Jacob Tolo

http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/exhibitions/unnerved-contemporary-new-zealand-art

Jacob Tolo who is of Samoan heritage. He is an amasing graphics designer, for those of you needing some Pacific flavour visually, give him a call!

http://designtologata.com

APAN members were invited to the Opening of the Unnerved Exhibition: The New Zealand Project where we had the pleasure of meeting visiting New Zealand artists Lisa Reihana and John Pule.

John Pule and Loketi Niua Latu
Unnerved Exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria 2010

Patrice, Leuli, Rita, Loketi, Jules and Jason Eades at Rita's Farewell
April 2011

In April we said goodbye to one of our biggest APAN supporter Rita Hinekauia Morrison who sadly returned home to Aotearoa for retirement. We are all grateful for her eternal support and wish her all the best in retirement at the marae at Whakaki!

Loketi, Patrice, Leuli & Rita

Rita Hinekauia Morrison
Fefine, Woman of ...photographic series 2011
Artwork by Loketi Niua Latu & Lisa Hilli
Graphics & post production by Dale Mark Ackermann
Printing by Impact Digital

APAN Dinner at Julie Tipene - O'Toole's
May 2011

Lia Pa'a, Georgie Sedgwick, Lisa Hilli & Venina Kaloumaira

Cultrual Diversity Educator Lia Pa'apa'a who is of Samoan, Tongan and South American heritage is project managing the Pacific Stories Film Project with Amie Batalibasi, who has just won Best Ultra Short at the Reel Earth Awards 2011 in New Zealand for her film Tide of Change.

http://www.amiebatalibasi.com/Home.html

http://www.reelearth.org.nz/modules/content/content.php?content.164

Pacific Stories aims to explore Melanesian Identities through discussion, storytelling and film making. Screening premiers June 25 at the Footscray Arts Centre. Get your tickets now as they are selling fast!

Webpage

http://pacificstories.wordpress.com/

1. Taloi Havini & Namila
2. Deb Chapman, Stephanie Kabanyana & Eric Bridgeman
3. Leuli, Namila, Lisa and Deb
4. Deb & Lisa

1. Leuli and Julie
2. Stephanie, Georgie and Taloi
3. Lia, Deb, V, Eric and Loketi
4. Eric Bridgeman

Brisbane based multi-disciplinary artist Eric Bridgeman is in town for his new show Yuri Yal Ton (Bad Man of the Yuri). Now showing at the Dianne Tanzer Gallery + projects (108-110 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy) Eric is of Papua New Guinean heritage, and we were grateful to show him some Pacific love on Saturday during our artist dinner.

Make time to see his new works from 30 April - 21 May 2011.

Yuri Yal Ton, Self-portrait with Instant Shield #1 2011
Eric Bridgeman

http://www.ericbridgeman.com/contact.html

Our Facebook page is what is current and check it out to stay in the loop with the lastest news about APAN until our new website is launched in October 2011.

APAN Facebook Link:
http://www.facebook.com/AustraliaPacificArtsNetwork

Email: loketi@gmail.com for any inquires regarding APAN

Opening Night Invitation
Graphic design by Dale Mark Ackermann. Printing by Impact Digital.

Celebrating the centenary of International Women's Day in 2011, Fefine Woman brings together four female artists whose contemporary art practises draw from their Pacific heritage. The exhibition explores the experiences of being a woman living between cultures, balancing the influence of family values and cultural expectations. These are deeply personal works celebrating ancestors and heritage, and resonating with the blend of cultrual traditions and experiences that have shaped each artist.

1.Leanne, Loketi, Nelia and Lisa
2. Loketi, Leanne, Jo Ely and Nelia

Leanne Clayton's textile works combine cultural and personal memory to consider the roles of family and tradition in a cross-cultural society. Her installations represent a confluence of Polynesian and Western cultures, utilising techniques and materials from each. Drawing from diverse historical materials ranging from family photographs through to clothing and dress, she explores how cultural traditions shape who we are and where we are from.

1. Bodice Quilt
2. Penu's Motif
3. Ula Lei
4. Muumuu Samorian

Embrace Me

Lisa Hilli takes us on a journey of self discovery, documenting a view of her mother through a daughter's eyes. As she navigates the sacrifices and challenges her mother has faced in migrating from Papua New Guinea to Australia, we witness the artist's personal journey to take ownership of her cultural heritage. Hilli's work highlights the role family relationships play in passing along cultural knowledge. In turn, we learn that traditions are not so much stationary or stagnant, but rather fluid and adaptable - a body of knowledge and practises that grows and develops across generations as new experiences are added to those of our ancestors before us.

1. Raim video installation
2. 3. 4. Still shots from Raim

Raim video installation 7:26mins

Nelia Pauline Hoeft - Cocker's delicately rendered ceramic torsos draw our attention to how the body is culturally encoded to express identity. She draws our attention to the cultrual markers of design (tātatau/tattoo), clothing and adornment, which categorise individuals according to gender, status, lineage and various other indicators of identity. The external appearance, then becomes an extension of language as we etch culturally significant signs onto our exterior being.

1. Fefine Tangiloi
2. Broken Beauty
3. 'Ulu 'o Nua
4. Fehuluni

Fefine Tangiloi

In marked contrast to Hoeft - Cocker's works, Loketi Niua Latu's black and white portraiture series presents head and shoulder portraits of Pacific women. The images are uniformly framed, removing the culturally encoded body's characteristics of height, adornment and clothing. This draws the viewer's attention to eyes, noses, cheekbones, shadows, chins and skin: a nakedness of form that reminds us of the essence of humanity and represents the person within. Juxtaposed against each portrait is a hand-crafted hair comb fit for Tongan royalty, symbolising the cultural identity of each woman. The spatial disconnection between body and adornment highlights the difference between a cultivated and inscribed identity, and the fundamental essence of the individual human being.

Fefine Woman of ...photographic series

Helu 'a Hina

'Uluenga

Fefine Woman presents four contemporary perspectives of cultural identity as it relates to femininity in Polynesia and Melanesian culture. The resulting artworks are sophisticated explorations of cultural values, family and ancestry, tradition and cultural dislocation. This is an engaging exhibition encompassing a broad range of styles and media; a strong representation of contemporary Pacific arts practise.

Jo Ely

Curator

Hunt Club Community Arts Centre