Transcript
Ten artists who take inspiration from the Pacific region feature their works in this exhibition at the Orexart gallery. Director and gallery owner, Rex Armstrong, says the title of the show really captions the works on display.
"Some people thought it was perhaps current art from the Pacific but really I had in mind that the currents flow around the Pacific, the doctors flow around the Pacific and the works of art kind of flow around the Pacific you know from Fiji to New Zealand, from New Zealand to Tonga, Samoa."
Major works are from Glen Wolfgramm, whose family came from Tonga and settled in West Auckland. The Tongan produced a unique piece of art made from ash. After one of the volcanoes erupted in South America and blew over the Pacific region, he did a painting putting that ash over ink drawn vaka for this Pacific migration type piece. And one well known Fiji artist did a huge tapa piece reminiscent of a Niuean artist.
"There's a piece by Joshua Toganivalu. He's from Fiji and there is this big tapa cloth 3 m x 3 m and he just talks about his life in Fiji and it is all gridded up with patterns and little stories . Looks very much like an early John Pule. John is from Niue but this is very much about Fiji."
Another work on display is Tongan born Hamilton based Visesio Siasau, a previous Wallace Art Award winner, who went up to New York and had a show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Rex Armstrong says the artists were handpicked and he's glad a portion of the show's art sales is being donated to support the World Child Cancer Trust.
"Opportunity to showcase some of the artists that are either born in New Zealand or born in the Pacific Islands which shows the kind of work or contemporary work coming out of the Pacific and a portion of the sale from the show would benefit the doctors in the Pacific as well."
In conjunction with a bank, (ANZ), the New Zealand based Trust Chair Simon Lala says the proceeds will greatly help.
"We are an independent charitable trust specifically established for providing support for children with cancer in the Pacific region namely the islands at the moment Fiji Samoa and Tonga and hopefully we can go into Papua New Guinea with adequate funding."
Simon Lala says there is a lot more work to be done in the region around child cancer treatments and training.
"And that was the driving force behind setting up the charitable Trust was to get children up into the Pacific an early and better diagnosis and access to treatment. And so the money that we raise funds projects and is for doctors to go up there in their own time and do some training of the doctors up there so that the doctors up there can provide a better service."
Other artists on display includes glasswork from Evelyn Dunstan and Sydney based Paul Jackson whose work is a blend of Tongan and Maori work.Pacific Currents has been extended until after Queens Birthday weekend.