The rich contemporary culture of Te Moana nui-a-Kiwa (Pacific) is on show in a new exhibition opening at NPDC’s Govett-Brewster Art Gallery Len Lye Centre on 2 November.

Lalaga: Le Hui Fono brings together artists and communities from Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Aotearoa, working together to activate the Gallery as a place to celebrate unique and connected aspects of culturally significant materials, designs, stories, sounds, and language.

The exhibition seeks to strengthen connections between Pasifika artists and communities, and those of Taranaki and the Govett-Brewster, and has been in development for three years.

“The wider Lalaga – lalaga means to ‘to weave together’ or ‘woven’ – conversation has been led by the Gallery’s Pacific Public Programs Coordinator Theresa Tongi and Pacific Curator at Large for Govett-Brewster, Ruha Fifita,” says Dr Zara Stanhope, NPDC Director of New Plymouth District Council’s cultural organisations.

“Their sustained work with local communities and tangata whenua artists, as well as those from Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, have produced many ideas which have enabled the Govett-Brewster to really grow this project into an ongoing, evolving, and important conversation, held across multiple chapters.”

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“Another important chapter was the establishment of an advisory group, formed from the local Pacific communities, to support and guide our mahi. That group has been a key outcome of this process, and relationships have benefited from opportunities to experience each other’s cultures and contexts,” Zara says.

The exhibition includes newly created art works alongside important heritage works. A mural by Taranaki artists Sean Hill and Haoro Hond working with Tongan artist collective Seleka International Art Society Initiative will be displayed alongside a collectively created ngatu (painted bark cloth) and prized family objects, to the resonant sound of traditional Tongan instruments created by Tu’ifonualava Kaivelata. Also included is a 22-metre-long heritage ngatu launima, held in the Puke Ariki collection, on display for the first time in three decades.

The exhibition is an opportunity for artists to share the processes of making. Weavers Kim Kahu (Ngāruahine) and Itāmua Muaiāoomālō Mataiva D Robertson will be joined by collaborators including Mako Jones, Shona Kelsen and the Ngāmotu Lalaga Weavers to create new fibre works within the Gallery across the duration of the exhibition.

Lalaga: Le Hui Fono has also been the catalyst for a new Lalaga Youth Ambassador’s programme for the region’s young Pasifika people, aimed at building their agency and vision for the future.

“The programme offers young local Pasifika people the chance to become ambassadors for their cultures. The group of 20 local youth are working with the exhibition’s artists to learn and demonstrate their own identity as part of their community and for others, and will showcase this during the exhibition’s opening weekend,” says Theresa.

Creative New Zealand has been a fundamental supporter of the development of Lalaga: Le Hui Fono.

Opening day programme 2 November.

11am: Artists Itāmua Muaiāoomālō Mataiva D Robertson and Kim Kahu share their knowledge of weaving processes, materials, and forms.

1pm: Local artists working with ngatu discuss Tagata Moana cultural revival and preservation and ancestral knowledge and practice, and relationships between moana visual and aural artforms.

This will be followed by a talk from Seleka International Arts Society Initiative and local artists Haoro Hond and Sean Hill about their time spent at Parihaka and in Tonga, collaborating with and empowering young people.

Lalaga: Le Hui Fono is on until 11 May 2025. 

FAST FACTS

• Govett-Brewster Art Gallery opened in 1970, funded by a bequest from local woman Monica Brewster (nee Govett).
• Around 85,000 people visit the Gallery each year.
• The Len Lye Centre opened as part of the Govett-Brewster in July 2015, creating a global home for the life and work of acclaimed New Zealand-born artist Len Lye (1901-1980)
• The Gallery presents a regularly changing programme of contemporary art exhibitions, events and conversations.
• Regular education and learning programmes are offered to visitors of all ages.
• It also runs an art and design store, independent cinema, and publishes a range of art books.

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