Here is your horizon, 2019

The contemporary Pacific experience of adornment has moved beyond the traditional, expanding to include marks, imagery, digital identities, movements and even the relationships we build. Here Is Your Horizon, curated by Talia Smith, presents newly commissioned and reimagined works by Pacific heritage artists from Australia and New Zealand, each sharing experiences of what adornment means to them and how it can be told through art making.

Five of the artists are creating exciting new work. Niki Hastings McFall works with leis (celebratory wreaths of flowers) to create vibrant installations that investigate persisting stereotypes. The reinterpretation of tradition is also evident in Serene Timoteo’s newly commissioned mat work, influenced by representations of the historical Queen Salote, and in Salome Tanuvasa’s site-specific wall drawing, which abstracts hours of distracted doodling during long-distance familial phone conversations overseas.

Other participating artists have reimagined existing work for Here Is Your Horizon. Pati Solomona Tyrell’s video work celebrates the restorative practice of collaboration while Dulcie Stewart and Vea Mafile’o share an engagement with the history of Pacific island women and traditional craft. Louisa Afoa’s wallpaper installation explores her own familial connections and Edith Amituanai’s photographic practice offers glimpses of the contemporary teenage struggle for individuality.

Artists: LOUISA AFOA, EDITH AMITUANAI, NIKI HASTINGS MCFALL, VEA MAFILE’O, SIONE MONU, DULCIE STEWART, SALOME TANUVASA, SERENE TIMOTEO, SAMUEL TUPOU, PATI SOLOMONA TYRELL, VAIMAILA URALE