Lana Lopesi Photo: supplied
An ambitious new book, Pacific Arts Aotearoa, has been released, spanning six decades of multi-disciplinary contributions from Pacific artists to New Zealand, Oceania and the world.
RNZ's Susana Lei'ataua spoke with the book's editor, Dr Lana Lopesi, for RNZ’s Culture 101. Lopesi notes that there are more than 120 voices in the book’s over 500 pages.
Getting to work with so many artists felt like a landmark, she told Lei’ataua. She says it’s an important job to continue to ensure that the many unrecorded stories are told before they are lost.
“The creative contribution Pacific artists have made has been profound,” says Lopesi, “and yet we have been underrepresented in art historical discourses across every art form.”
Ciggy Butts In The Sand by Tupua Tigafua, 2021. Photo: Pati Solomona Tyrell
Pacific Arts Aotearoa has been co-designed with Creative New Zealand to celebrate its first Pacific Arts Strategy 2018-2023. It’s a project that has grown from an online project during the Covid lockdowns to a major book.
Claire Murdoch of publisher Penguin Random House New Zealand says the book reveals the scale of Pacific artists' influence. "This book,” she says, “will change what all of us know."
PUAWAI graduates in theatre and dance with Oscar Kightley before the formation of Pacific Underground (L-R: Mishelle Muagututi’a, Oscar Kightley, Venessa Kidwell, Siaosi Mulipola and Erolia Ifopo). Photo: Pacific Underground
