Artist in Residence Programme

Tui Emma Gillies is a renowned New Zealand Tongan artist specializing in ngatu where her unique style blends contemporary elements with traditional techniques. Her work is known for its bold and thought-provoking nature, often challenging conventional norms and sparking conversations. Despite its confrontational aspects, her art always pays homage to the origins of the medium and the ancestral practices that precede her. Having exhibited across various countries, including New Zealand, Tonga, Australia, the UK, and the USA, she also had the privilege of presenting her art internationally in Austria, Hawai’i, United Kingdom, Spain, China, and Australia. In 2018, she was honored with the Creative New Zealand Pacific Heritage Award, recognizing her significant contributions to the art world. Her works are proudly housed in esteemed collections worldwide, such as the National Maritime Museum, Auckland War Memorial Museum, GRASSI Museum in Germany, National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Pick Museum of Anthropology in Illinois, USA, Te Fare Iamanaha-Musée de Tahiti et des Îles, and Te Papa. Each piece reflects her deep connection to her heritage and the cultural narratives she aims to preserve and celebrate through art.

Jahra Wasasala is a world-builder, movement psychopomp and writer of realms of Viti/Fiji and Palagi descent, based in Aotearoa (New Zealand). Within the Islands of Viti, she hails from the provinces of Ba and Macuata.

A student of mythology, her own bloodline and deepening her work within ancestral attunement, Jahra utilises her training and specialisation within performance activation, various street dance style techniques and poetic/voice soundscape as a psychopomp for her shape-shifting and storytelling through her public and personal embodiments.

Jahra’s solo and company embodiment works have toured across festivals and performance seasons across Aotearoa, Australia, Hawai’i, New York, Berlin, Guahån and Canada. Jahra has created commissioned embodiments for institutions such as the Auckland War Memorial Museum in Aotearoa, The Banff Centre in Calgary, the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC., and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Jahra is deeply invested in the ancestral memory archive of the body that can be accessed through movement and creative excavation within performance.

As a specialist performer, Jahra has featured in dance works from companies such as Kaha:Wi Dance Theatre (Canada), Foster Group (NZ), Ta'alili Company (NZ) and Atamira Dance Company (NZ).

Jahra’s facilitation and mentoring skill is an integral part of her work and has worked with collectives, training instituions and initiatives throughout Aotearoa and overseas such as Rising Voices Movement, Pacific Tongues Festival, Sailing Solo, Action Education Inc, MIXIT Refugee Youth Arts and Red Leap Theatre. Jahra’s movement and poetry intensives work towards enabling participants to emancipate their internal worlds and develop their personal languages within the written and the flesh.

(from: https://jahra.xyz/i-am-we-are)

Luisa Keteiyau Tora is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and writer with 10+ years’ experience focusing on indigenous, queer, and feminist themes. She has a community service record developed in human rights advocacy in Fiji and the Pacific folded into her creative practice.

Her 2021 Macmillan Brown Residency allowed her to conduct seminars, and a public exhibition on The Veiqia Project, a Fijian female collective made up of artists, curators, researchers, and academics based in Australia, Hawai’i, and Aotearoa New Zealand. Since forming in 2015, the collective has been at the forefront of developing research of veiqia (Fijian female tattoo practice) and sharing its findings through creative outputs.

An international talanoa with the members of the Veiqia Project attracted a large international and regional audience. There was excellent turnout with Dr Tarisi Vunidilo, of the University of Hawaii, leading the discussion on veiqia. Many Fijians were able to learn about their traditional practices  of veiqia (tattoo) for the first time.

Nina Oberg-Humphries is a multimedia artist whose work explores found identity through the relationship between Pacific and Western traditional knowledge and the changing face of Polynesian people in Aotearoa. She uses heritage Polynesian practices such as Tivaevae, costume and dance, juxtaposed with elements from the Western cannon and popular culture (eg, Opera, Classical music, street art and new materials), to convey issues of identity, social politics and cultural hybridity.

Rather than adhering to Western concepts of art theory and aesthetics, all her work is encompassed by the guiding Polynesian principle of the Va.

“Va is the space between, the betweeness, not empty space, not space that separates but space that relates, that holds separate entities and things together in the Unity-that-is-All, the space
that is
context, giving meaning to things. The meanings change as the relationships/the contexts change.”

Albert Wendt (1996) Tatauing the Post-Colonial Body, Span

The Va gives priority to all connections, all binaries, the past, the present, cultural differences and indifference, everything finds a place in the space between. Here obligations and meaning are determined through relationships and endless negotiation.

For Nina the Va is a source of inspiration and exploration, a place where she can give weight to aspects of art making that may not conform to cultural norms or expectations (Western or Polynesian), yet allow her to find voice, meaning and a sense of personal and cultural affirmation. In this her work is often issue based, politically encoded, and always pays homage to her heritage as a Pacific person.

Tuafale Tanoa’i was the 2019 Pacific Artist in Residence at the University of Canterbury (UC). She is usually based in Auckland where she is known as a community photographer, videographer and DJ.

Also known as Linda T, Tanoa’i is an active participant in Māori, Pacific and LGBTQI+ communities, documenting their activities and stories. She describes herself as a performance, video installation artist with community building and archiving foremost in her motivations. Her work is a vehicle for communities, often disadvantaged, to be heard.

Of Samoan heritage, Tanoa’i gained a Master’s degree in Art and Design with First Class Honours from AUT. She has worked with various organisations, from community to government-led initiatives with a special interest in Pacific women’s health and youth.

During her three-month residency, Tuafale created a new body of work, incorporating a series of interviews already in progress with a new series focussing on stories by Pacific women in Ōtautahi. She also conducted a series of talks, poetry readings and a fashion show.

Tuafale’s final work was showcased in her exhibition – Spontaneous Intentionality - which was opened on 10 July at the Physics Room Gallery, and ran till 4 August 2019. Tuafale generously donated a copy of the Ōtautahi interviews from the exhibition to UC for its permanent collection.

Artist interview during the residency: Bookmarks: Tuafale Tanoa’i with Jessie Muligan, Radio NZ

Tanu Gago, a prominent photographer, curator, producer, film maker, photographer, visual artist and queer activist was appointed the 2018 artist in residence for the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies (MBC) at the University of Canterbury (UC).

Born in Samoa and raised in South Auckland, Gago maintains a creative and social practice that spans the past six years. His political activism predominantly sits within the fine arts, working in new media, staged portraiture, moving image, film, social marketing and community development. His practice is collaborative and examines cultural framing, decolonisation, social politics, queer activism and gender and sexually diverse narratives.

An interdisciplinary and award-winning photographer, Gago is the cofounder and creative director of Pacific LGBT Arts Collective entitled FAFSWAG. Under Gago’s direction FAFSWAG have carved out credible cultural space within the contemporary arts scene within Auckland.

During his three-month residency, Tanu Gago conducted a series of talks, seminars and a pop up exhibition on campus.

Tanu’s final work was showcased in his exhibition – SAVAGE IN THE GARDEN - which was opened on 4 April at the Physics Room Gallery, and ran till 12 May 2019. Tanu generously donated an art work from the exhibition to UC for its permanent collection.

South Auckland artist Ema Tavola was appointed at the University of Canterbury Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies Artist in Residence for 2017. 

Born in Suva, Fiji, Tavola has lived and worked within the creative sector in South Auckland since 2002. Her research is practice-based and concerned with curating as a mechanism for social inclusion, centralising Pacific ways of seeing, decolonisation and exhibition making as activism. She was the founding curator of Fresh Gallery Ōtara and now talks and blogs frequently on grassroots curating and community engagement.

Tavola has lectured on Pacific art history at Manukau Institute of Technology, and advised on exhibitions including Auckland Museum’s 'Taku Tāmaki: Auckland Stories South' (2016) and 'Home AKL' (2012) at Auckland Art Gallery. She holds a Master of Arts Management and a Bachelor of Visual Arts.

During her three-month residency, Ema produced a curatorial manifesto investigating the role of making, recording and idea visualisation in the act of curating.

Ema’s final work was showcased in her exhibition – Kaitani - which was opened on 25 November at the Physics Room Gallery, and ran till 24 December 2017.

New Zealand-Samoan artist Ioane Ioane was appointed as the 2016 Artist in Residence for the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Canterbury.

A contemporary, modernist Pacific artist, Ioane began his residency at UC in May 2016 following the 12th South Pacific Arts Festival held in Guam where he represented New Zealand and held his solo exhibition at the Guam Museum.

During his three-month residency, Ioane researched the navigational heritage of the Pacific and carved a series of maquettes based on the Samoan va'atele (three-metre canoe).

Ioane's final work was showcased in his exhibition - 'O le malanga malosi tele: a very strong journey' - which was opened on 16 September at the Matariki Building, University of Canterbury, and ran till 07 October.

The Macmillan Brown Centre and Creative New Zealand are delighted to announce that Christchurch-born playwright and scriptwriter, Victor Rodger, is the 2012 Pacific Artist in residence. In 1998 Victor’s first play, 'Sons', won Chapman Tripp Awards for Best New Play and Best New Writer and in 2001 he won the Bruce Mason Playwright Award. His latest play, 'At The Wake' premieres in Palmerston North at the end of July. He has previously been the recipient of the Fulbright-Creative New Zealand Writers in residency at the University of Hawai’i (2006) and the Ursula Bethell Creative Writers Residency at the University of Canterbury (2009). Since 2000 Victor has also been a scriptwriter for 'Shortland Street'.

Victor has chosen two projects to work on during his residency, both of which use the themes of class, racism and identity.

'Aftershocks' explores the personal aftershocks of four very different family units- two east-side and two west-side - after the devastating February earthquake.

'Can All Read and Write' is inspired by an award ceremony in Christchurch in 2010 where a (white) presenter assured the audience that a group of award-winning (and mainly Pasifika) students could all read and write.

Victor will be at the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies in August and September 2012 and will return in November to complete his residency and to host writing workshops.

In 2011, to mark the 15th anniversary of the Macmillan Brown Pacific Artist in residence programme, Fatu Feu’u (the first recipient in 1996) returned to Christchurch to complete a second residency. As part of this, Feu’u researched and wrote a new body of poetry which will be published accompanied by a series of lithographs. The paintings in his exhibition Ola were produced as the foundation for this upcoming publication.

Fatu Feu'u OLA solo exhibition press release

Actress, musician, songwriter, playwright and manager of Pacific Underground, Tanya Muagututi'a was the 2010 Pacific Artist in Residence.

During her residency, Tanya researched and completed the first draft for a play called Scholars. As part of her research about scholarships that were made available for Samoan students from the 1950s-1980, Tanya interviewed and conducted workshops at the Macmillan Brown Centre.

The Macmillan Brown/Creative New Zeland Pacific Artist in residence for 2009 was Tongan-born artist Kulimoeanga 'Stone' Maka. During his residency, Stone drew inspiration from the traditional process of smoking Tongan mats (ta'ovala faka'ahu) and converted this smoking process to canvas. Stone concluded his residency with two exhibitions, at UC and the Centre of Contemporary of Art, entitled 'Faka'ahu-Contemporary Fumage'.

John Ioane was the 2008 Pacific Artist in residence. During his residency John carved and painted on hardboard and resin for his exhibtion entitled '9 Heavens'. The works examined the relationship between Samoa and Tonga and that thousands of years ago both countries lived together in unity.

The 2007 Pacific Artist in residence was Invercargill-based Samoan sculptor Johhny Penisula. Johnny created a series of rock sculptures under the title 'Le folauga me le afe o Tausaga: The voyage to the next Millennium' during his residency and worked with students in the School of Fine Arts.

Johnny Peninsula works in progress

The 2006 Artist in Residence was Sheyne Tuffery. Sheyne worked on a project entitled 'SaMoa (Sacred Fowl)'. Sheyne produced a series of mixed media murals and computer animation. Sheyne completed his residency with an exhibition at the Salamander Gallery entitled 'Penguins and Buicks'.

The 2005 Pacific Artist in residence was Tusiata Avia. Tusiata will be writing a new book of poetry and drawing on this material for a new stage show. As part of her residency, Tusiata hosted poetry workshops with Pacific Writers' groups.

Our 2004 artist, David Fane, prepared his play on Tamasese and the Mau, which premiered at Christchurch's Court Theatre in 2005. Dave worked with the blessing and support of Tupua Tamasese IV, one the Macmillan Brown Centre's former Visiting Scholars. During his residency, he also continued work with Naked Samoan colleagues in the new feature 'Bro' Town', that premiered on national television in 2004.

In 2003 the Centre broadened its artistic range to include the performing arts, and welcome the selection of a founder and a member of the Pacific Underground as our first performing artists. Erolia Ifopo and Siaosi Mulipola will work under a joint project title named 'Pacific Playwrights'.

Both Erolia and Siaosi deal with issues surrounding the Pacific diaspora and experiences of New Zealand-born Pacific Islanders, contrasting the understandings of culture and family loyalties from a New Zealand perspective, and the historical and cultural depth of the home island society.

Erolia Ifopo

Erolia Ifopo wrote her own commentary, critique and reflection of a Pacific woman/Pacific women in the arts and is interested in 'establishing more in-depth links to the threads of traditional rituals and ceremonies that have influenced and shaped contemporary Pacific arts and artists in New Zealand'.

Siaosi Mulipola

Siaosi has composed 'Paper Flowers – a dance composition about the migration of our Polynesian Mothers, acknowledging their strength and determination to start life in a different environment'.

Lurlene Christiansen

Lurlene completed her residency in September 2002 with an installation of her digital works entitled 'Cha Cha Cha in Blue'.

Emma Kesha

Emma Kesha is a Dunedin-based traditional Samoan weaver. She completed her residency in November 2002 with an installation of her weaving works entitled 'Siva Siva Maia: Come Dance with me'.

Filipe Tohi was the Artist in Residence in 2001. Filipe is a New Plymouth-based Tongan-born sculptor who worked on la lava lashings and sculptures during his residency.

Lonnie Hutchinson, of Samoan and Ngai Tahu descent was the first woman recipient to take up this residency. Lonnie completed her residency with an installation of her works entitled 'Coconut Dreams'.

In 1999, self-taught New Zealand-born Samoan artist, Andy Lelei, took up his residency. Professor Albert Wendt describes Andy as "one of the dynamic New Zealand-born-and-raised artists influencing and changing New Zealand art dramatically". Andy completed his residency by an exhibition of his paintings entitled 'Patterns of my lavalava'.

Niuean born poet, artist and author John Pule followed Michel and took up his residency in 1998. John completed his residency with an exhibition of ten ink drawings entitled 'Tala Mahofihofi: love poems'. John's drawings brought together his writing and imagery.

Fatu's 1996 residency was followed in 1997 by Michel Tuffery. Michel proud of his Samoan/Tahitian/Cook Island heritage completed his residency by an installation of his works entitled 'O le vasa loloto ma le loloa: the wide and deep ocean'. This exhibition reflected Michel's conservation and love for the ocean.

The first recipient of this scholarship in 1996 was well-known Auckland-based Samoan artist Fatu Feu’u. Fatu completed this inaugural residency by an opening exhibition of five paintings of mixed media on canvas entitled 'So'otaga ole Pasifika: Pacific Connections'.