Wednesday 11 May 2016
NGV NEWS | Siu i Moana: Reaching Across the Ocean
NGV International | 10 June – 11 September 2016 | FREE
Siu i Moana: Reaching Across the Ocean
presents collaborative ngatu (Tongan barkcloth
paintings) by Maori/New Zealand artist Robin
White and Tongan artist Ruha Fifita, which
narrate powerful and moving present-day
stories of migration and patterns of connection
across Oceania and beyond.
The exhibition comprises eight recently-painted
and large-scale ngatu, the largest of which spans
a monumental twenty four metres in length. The
ngatu have been produced by the artists in
collaboration with the women of Haveluloto
village on Tongatapu Island, Tonga. In
accordance with local custom, the Tongan
woman have softened and beaten the inner
bark of the paper mulberry tree into small pieces, which are joined and pasted together, then rubbed
over patterned rubbing blocks to form huge sheets of dyed and patterned paper skin ready to be
painted.
White and Fifita describe their ngatu as hybrid works that integrate ancestral patterns and design with
contemporary imagery and narratives. This is characterised by the use of traditional dyes and painting
techniques to depict ideas and stories drawn from current ways of living.
‘The work of Robin White and Ruha Fifita demonstrates the powerful versatility and surprising
modernity embedded in many ancient art forms,’ said Tony Ellwood, Director, NGV. ‘Through their
collaboration with Tongan artists and craftspeople, White and Fifita have added to the artistic
vocabulary of traditional ngatu and moved the art form into an exciting new territory of contemporary
art and design.’
Highlights from the exhibition include Siu i Moana, the ngatu series from which this exhibition takes its
name, which traces the migratory pathways of the Pacific. A triptych of maps that trace the patterns of
migration along an underwater volcanic ridge that joins Tonga and New Zealand, Siu i Moana
acknowledges the centrality of the sea to life in the Pacific and celebrates the practice of reciprocity and
exchange that characterises Oceania.
At an incredible twenty four metres long, the largest of the works, Seen on the Avenue, depicts a road
that is fringed with Norfolk Pines which leads from the King’s palace in Tongatapu to the royal tombs.
The work also makes reference to Ben Gurion Avenue in Haifa, Israel, which leads in a straight line from
the shores of the Mediterranean to the foot of Mt Carmel, drawing a connection between different
people and their traditions.
-continues-
Siu i Moana: Reaching Across the Ocean will be on display at NGV International, 180 St Kilda Road,
Melbourne, from 10 June — 11 September 2016. Entry is free.
FOCUS ON PACIFIC ART AND CULTURE
This exhibition forms part of an in-depth focus on Pacific art and culture at the NGV in 2016. NGV
International will also host two other major exhibitions of contemporary Pacific art, Greg Semu: The Raft
of the Tagata Pasifika (People of the Pacific), an exhibition of powerful photographic works that restages
two iconic European history paintings with a cast of twenty-two indigenous actors from the Cook
Islands, and Lisa Reihana’s in pursuit of Venus, a live-action video work that restages the French neoclassical panoramic wallpaper Les Sauvages de la mer Pacifique (1804‒05).
These will be presented alongside Art of the Pacific, an extensive collection display which honours the
customary shields, figurative sculptures and masks, as well as a dynamic range of body ornaments,
encompassing contemporary Polynesian lei, headdresses and jewellery, barkcloths and photographs of
Samoan tatau.
PUBLIC PROGRAMS
Contemporary Pacific Art and Community Day
Sat 11 Jun, 11am – 3pm
Join in a celebration of Melbourne’s vibrant Pacific community and experience contemporary Pacific
culture and art with music, performances, workshops and talks led by international and local artists and
curators in this special program marking the opening of exhibitions Siu i Moana: Reaching Across the
Ocean, Greg Semu: The Raft of the Tagata Pasifika (People of the Pacific), Lisa Reihana: in Pursuit of
Venus and display of the NGV Collection, Art of the Pacific.
Cost Free
Venue NGV International
-ends-
IMAGE CAPTION:
Robin White
Maori/New Zealander born 1946, worked in Kiribati and Australia
1982–99
Ruha Fifita
Tongan/New Zealander born 1990, worked in Australia 2012–
NZ to Tonga 2011
from the Siu i Moana: Reaching across the ocean series
earth pigments, natural dyes and tuitui (Candlenut soot) on ngatu
(barkcloth)
469.0 x 553.0 cm
The University of Auckland Art Collection, Auckland
Purchased, 2012
Photo: Bruce Foster
MEDIA CONTACTS
Marion Joseph, Head of Media and Public Affairs
03 8620 2346 | 0427 147 999 | [email protected]
Tim Jones, Publicist, Media and Public Affairs
03 8620 2497 | 0412 620 003| [email protected]