Media Release
12 April 2012
Pacific Arts Summit showcases exciting talent

The countdown to the Pacific Arts Summit has begun with the unveiling of an exciting programme showcasing Pacific art and emerging talent.

The jewel in the crown of the Pacific Arts Summit is True South, which responds to a glaring gap in the fashion market by highlighting a hand-picked selection of local designers who honour and celebrate the plus size, the Amazonian, the big and the tall – the women of “Poly-Fabulous” proportions.

Featuring a line-up of big, bold local talent True South promises to be a night that will seriously shake-up notions of Nesian body politics. Don’t miss this spectacular show at the Mangere Arts Centre on 4 May.

On the following day, the home of Otara Scorpions rugby league club, Ngati Otara Park, will host a unique project that sees local realism artist Joe Lane paint a vibrant mural on three of the clubroom’s exterior walls.

The live mural painting will be part of a gala day, which features Polynesian food stalls backed by a full programme of Otara Scorpions rugby league games.

The fourth wall of the clubrooms will become a Wall of Legends created by students from nearby Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate. The wall will immortalise the Scorpion’s most famous sons and daughters, such as Rueben Wiki, Manu Vatuvei and Kiwi Fern Cynthia Ta’ala.

Another key event during the summit is the intimate evening of story telling and live music at OMAC Unplugged on 18 May.

For 24 years, the Otara Music Arts Centre has been a community hub where music is taught, recorded and created. Some of South Auckland’s most talented musicians will be on hand to share their experiences, their music and their huge personalities, in an evening that should not be missed.

But that’s not all, this year’s Pacific Arts Summit is full of exhibitions, shows and creative learning that will inspire, delight and inform

It kicks off on 21 April at the Mangere Arts Centre, with two exhibitions ‘parallels’ and ‘Lounge Room Tribalism’ showcasing the talents of Niuean artist Darcell Apelu and Samoan artist Graham Fletcher and runs until 3 June.

For a full programme check out http://2012pacificartssummit.wordpress.com/

ENDS

Editors notes

Shows include:

Parallels/Lounge Room Tribalism
Date: 21 April – 3 June
Venue: Mangere Arts Centre – Nga Tohu o Uenuku
Opening Hours: Mon – Fri, 9am – 5pm, Weekends 10am – 4pm
parallels is Niuean artist Darcell Apelu’s graduate work from AUT University. Apelu uses her experiences competing in both national and international competitive wood chopping to inform her performance work.

Lounge Room Tribalism is a solo exhibition from the other end of the spectrum. Samoan painter, Graham Fletcher has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally. Fletcher paints the living rooms of affluent Western collectors, and their elaborate display of ornaments and furniture; it has been shown in central Auckland and Wellington and now Mangere!

True South
Date: Friday 4 May
Time: 8pm
Venue: Mangere Arts Centre – Ngā Tohu o Uenuku
Tickets: $20 (Available from Mangere Arts Centre and EventFinder.co.nz)
True South is a jewel in the crown of the Pacific Arts Summit!

Where big is the norm and street style is as much influenced by mass media as it is by [multi] cultural identity, South Auckland is the perfect space for a night of fierce fashion to seriously shake-up notions of Nesian body politics!

Featuring a line-up of big, bold local talent, including headliner Otara-based choreographer, Tepaeru-Ariki Lulu French, this one-night only event is not to be missed!

Scorpions for Life

Date: Saturday 5 May
Time: 9am – 4.30pm
Venue: Otara Scorpions Rugby, League Clubrooms, Ngati Otara Park
On Saturday 5 May, the Pacific Arts Summit comes to the home of the Otara Scorpions! The Scorpions home ground at Ngati Otara Park, which has reared NZ league legends such as Manu Vatuvei and Rueben Wiki, will host an exciting mural project on the exterior of their clubrooms painted by talented and gifted local realism artist and tattooist Joe Lane.

This mural painting will be a central focal point during the Otara Scorpions Gala Day where you can enjoy Polynesian food stalls back dropped by a full day of Otara Scorpions rugby league games played against visiting teams from all over Auckland!

OMAC Unplugged
Date: Friday 18 May
Time: 7pm
Venue: Otara Music Arts Centre, Otara Town Centre
Cost: Free

OMAC Unplugged is an intimate evening of story telling and live music celebrating the histories, music and community around one of South Auckland’s musical institutions, Otara Music Arts Centre (OMAC).

In 24 years, OMAC has been a community centre in the truest sense. OMAC has been host to numerous meetings and parties, weekly worship, heated debates, emotional funeral services and memorable community celebrations. But, above all, music – it is where music is taught, recorded, created, discussed and celebrated.

Join members of the OMAC music community to celebrate, remember and jam in the notorious OMAC hall, like you’ve never seen it before! Celebrating NZ Music Month, Southside style!

WWJD
Date: 11 May – 23 June
Venue: Fresh Gallery Otara
Opening Hours: Tue - Fri, 10am - 5pm, Sat, 8am - 2pm

Celebrating Fresh Gallery Otara’s 6th anniversary, WWJD is a special group exhibition with firm roots in South Auckland. As an attempt to showcase a range of real-world creative outputs, WWJD positions gallery-based fine arts alongside self-publishing, participation projects and some of the meanest hair styles found at the ASB Polyfest!

Whilst, WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) became a popular phrase amongst Evangelical Christian youth in the 1990s, the exhibition honours the work of the late Cook Islands curator, Jim Vivieaere (1947-2011).

Reflecting on his influence on her own curatorial practice, Ema Tavola
pays homage to Vivieaere’s efforts in championing the infinite possibilities of Contemporary Pacific Art.

WWJD (What Would Jim Do) is an exhibition that represents Fresh Gallery Otara’s role in showcasing new Pacific art that challenges, engages and reflects the unique socio-political context of Otara, South Auckland
and Oceania.

Plantation
Date: 14 – 20 May
Time: 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Cost: Waged (Adult) - $20 / Concession (10+) - $18 / Child - $15 purchased at Mangere Arts Centre – Ngā Tohu o Uenuku or visit www.eventfinder.co.nz
Venue: Mangere Arts Centre – Ngā Tohu o Uenuku

Plantation is the sequel to Iaheto Ah Hi’s first play Tautai, which was staged at Mangere Arts Centre – Ngā Tohu o Uenuku in 2010.

Plantation is a Polynesian love story that explores the ancient knowledge of growing taro and the trials of growing families.

A Samoan story celebrating family, growth and redemption, the play is set in two timeframes: present day urban South Auckland, and Samoa’s rainforest in the 1950’s. In both Samoan and English, Plantation celebrates language, song, chants, dance and rainforest lore.

Hump Day Art Talks

Date: Wednesday 9, 16 and 23 May
Time: 6 - 7.30pm
Venue: Z Block, Manukau Institute of Technology, 50 Lovegrove Crescent, Otara
Cost: Free

Hump Day Art Talks is a series of stimulating mid-week panel discussions concerning Pacific approaches to artists in society, creative criticism and the art hustle!

These exciting live discussions have been developed to help you get over that
mid-week hump, get inspired and expand your thinking. Panelists include some notorious Auckland movers and shakers, thinkers and creators, writers and practitioners!

Wednesday 9 May: Art/life
Considering the modern-day challenges of life + art, panellists explore the importance of artists in society sharing ideas about the cultural, social and economic significance of artists within the Pacific community.
Wednesday 16 May: Crit me a river
What makes a good or bad art critic? And what demands do they face within the Pacific and wider New Zealand community? Panelists share ideas and personal experiences from the often tumultuous road of critiquing “our” Pacific arts and communities.
Wednesday 23 May: The Art Game
How do you promote your work? What makes a great exhibition? What is the business of being an artist? This panel has the answers! Up the ante and get your hustle on!

Girls Who Shoot / Boys Who Draw

Date: 19 May – 16 June
Venue: Papakura Art Gallery
Opening Hours: Mon - Fri, 9am - 5pm, Sat, 10am - 2pm

Girls Who Shoot / Boys Who Draw is not a show about cowgirls and boys in a gun fight. Nor does it make witty references to drug epidemics and samurai swords.

It is a show that is quite literal in its naming - Girls Who Shoot refers to female photographers and Boys Who Draw, to the male artists alongside them, who have drawing-based practices.

Six artists will present works that engage with a variety of subject matters. From an exploration of gold teeth, cultural cringe, the ‘Urban Oceanic’ to graffiti art.

The Roots: South Pacific Architecture

Creative Native proudly presents The Roots: South Pacific Architecture, a unique series of workshops celebrating the traditional building techniques and design aesthetics of Pacific architecture.

The Roots provides a platform for talented young Māori and Pacific secondary school students to learn and practice, traditional Pacific lashing and weaving techniques through a series of workshops, designed to engage and inform.

The workshops will also educate students on sustainability in architecture, through engagement with the Otara community and interaction and mentoring from leading industry professionals.

The Roots culminates in a public event and forum where students will have a chance to show off their new-found skills, through the building of a pavilion using environmentally sustainable design, and recycled materials.

Pacific Dance Fono

Date: Saturday 19 May
Time: 10am - 4pm
Venue: AUT University, 640 Great South Road, Manukau
Cost: Free

The Pacific Dance Fono is held each year with the aim of bringing together various dance practitioners from New Zealand to share, support and network with each other.

This year’s theme for the fono is ‘sustainability’. As part of the themed discussion, a panel will provide advice and share personal and professional journeys that support the need to advocate for sustainability as a means to surviving and growing in the dance sector.

ENDS

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