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Published in Dissecting Diversity in the Southside

What’s in a name?

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A little amble down memory lane for #ThrowbackThursday! The publication SOUTH came out of a collaboration between Nigel Borell and I whilst we were employed as the Māori and Pacific Arts Coordinators for Manukau City Council backkkkk in the day! SOUTH centralised Southside voices, writing, critique and showcased the layers of our creative world from hairstyles at Polyfest to tattoo, fashion and exhibitions; our agenda was to write our own art history because no one else was doing it. Our second issue featured a series of fashion editorials by local designers, shot by @vkumaran in and around the Southside. Our cover shot ended up being Ōtara-based Samoan designer, Genevieve Pini’s work “Miss Lavalava” originally entered into Cult Couture’s ‘Recycled Revolution’ category. All the designers directed and devised their own shoots and Genevieve’s vision was to locate her work in the alleyways she loved around the hood. She also wanted a chunky model, enter Ema 😎 With excellent hair, and make-up by @life_withdrew and a perfect t-shirt by @fafswag’s Tanu Gago, this image became a powerful statement about making work in/for/about Manukau City, South Auckland. The artistic director for SOUTH was the excellent @edgarmelitao, and this issue, our last, was launched at @papakuraartgallery in 2012. In between bidding farewell to Vunilagi Vou’s Ōtāhuhu premises and working on our next site, a publication concept is in the pipeline. It is *still* so important to be recording and archiving our own art histories in South Auckland, and this pause in producing / curating / hustling, has allowed words to flow and ideas to grow, so watch this space for “Vunilagi Vou: Chapter 1”, yet to be written, but coming one day soon! ✨

Far out, missing the gallery hustle this lockdown! Today we would have opened a new show, our 10th since opening the gallery’s doors in May 2019. This show was going to be a solo... by me, Ema 👹 In a pre-pandemic time and space, tonight we would have welcomed our first @creativenz-funded Vunilagi Vou Artist-Arts Manager in Residence, Fiji-based Peter Sipeli, and launched a new two-monthly exhibition cycle with an April-May programme dedicated to arts management and creative hustle! *BIG SIGH* This was one of the first works I re-made for the show in collaboration with graphic designer, Nicole Lim; a commentary on the emo-economics of being an artist-curator in Aotearoa today. This work was produced as a limited edition poster which will be available soon in our online store, one part of the necessary re-think on how to carry on and sustain the VV kaupapa into the future. Our doors in Ōtāhuhu will formally close on May 2, marking the end of the first chapter of Vunilagi Vou. The new space, Vunilagi Vou 2.0, is planned for a Springtime re-birth: she’ll be fresh, refined, recalibrated... 🌱 Updates on some of the awesome collaborations that we’re still manifesting with Peter Sipeli across oceans and digital realms are coming soon; the talanoa and thinking surrounding this global moment of pause is shaping and informing some exciting work in the pipeline! Kia kaha to our arts community, we will survive this! ✊🏽 #SouthAuckland #MoanaOceania #PacificArt #EmaTavola

Going live at 3pm today (Sunday) to discuss creative survival in the corona era with Fiji-based VV Arts Manager in Residence, @peterdanielfiji - talanoa on IG Live, tune in! #TeamFiji #MoanaOceania #PeterSipeli #VunilagiVou

All going to plan, yesterday would have been the last day of our @aklfestival show, #SafeAsHouses 😔 Thank you to artists @marcushipa.art, @craighorne and @metiria for being part of what has ended up being... our last show in Ōtāhuhu! What a way to go out! Thank you to Craig Horne for firmly planting this show and this kaupapa in the #Ōtāhuhu consciousness with the work, “The Pegler Project”, which includes documentation of 78 Pegler Brothers houses in the Ōtāhuhu hood. It was awesome to see so many Pegler residents at the exhibition opening earlier this month, meeting each other for the first time! These houses are quickly disappearing with the tides of gentrification and intensification that are reshaping and reframing Ōtāhuhu at an alarming rate. But, with this global pause and impending economic recession, perhaps, just maybe, we (including the powers that be) can take the opportunity for a re-think; has our rate / definition of ‘progress’ undermined / overlooked our community’s need for connection, wellbeing, security and purpose...? #LockdownReflections 😎 Hope everyone is staying sane in #lockdown, embedding good practices that will keep us safe as a country: wash hands, moisturise, eat, pray, rest, reflect... and repeat 🧘🏽‍♀️ #StayHome #SouthAuckland

‪We may be in lockdown here in Aotearoa and won’t have #Fiji-based poet & arts manager, @peterdanielfiji here for our VV Arts Management Residency, but we’ll be doing a series of live conversations here to exchange ideas, share poetry & support in response to this new climate.‬ #MakeDo #ArtsManagersInIsolation #VunilagiVou #Fiji #MoanaOceania #Talanoa

What is a gallery without people? A very sad little room! We’re relocating to adapt to our uncertain futures, taking some downtime and look forward to re-emerging in the Spring with a fresh approach to honouring the space where art meets audiences. Watch this space! 🌊🙏🏽🌊

Thinking of you, Teresia 💜 It’s 3 years since we lost your radiating presence on this earth. Praying for #MoanaOceania today as the impacts of a global recession will amplify what we experience in the privileged Pacific Rim many times over. Thank you Tere for being a portal to the Pacific here in Aotearoa and beyond, a consciousness that changed the world. 🙏🏾

Today I bought all the plants from the Gallery home, so they don’t die with my business 💀 #RealTalk // We are now closed until further notice 🦠👈🏽🤬 #SouthAuckland

We were really looking forward to holding space for this #talanoa tonight but as per announcement earlier this week, this event has been postponed. Still important, but not essential to our community health and wellbeing at the moment. Vinaka vakalevu to Auckland Council for supporting this kaupapa, and to our artists in #SafeAsHouses: @marcushipa.art, @craighorne and @metiria - we endeavour to stay open but taking it one day at a time at this point. 🦠⚡️🦠 #Ōtāhuhu #SouthAuckland #PacificArt #MoanaOceania #AklFest

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4/256 Great South Road
Ōtāhuhu
Auckland
New Zealand

027 5779369

Wednesday - Friday: 10am - 5pm
Saturday: 11am - 4pm
Sunday - Tuesday: Closed

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