It has been a long time between updates. Vunilagi Vou has been operating on one small engine since last September. With low to no revenue, energies were necessarily diverted and I spent eight months working with Ōtara Waterways and Lake Trust thinking about what service to South Auckland looks and feels like through the lens of the environmental sector. During this time, I also completed a Master of Applied Indigenous Knowledge at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. It was a privilege to graduate with an inspiring cohort of Indigenous thinkers and have my parents here to celebrate with my daughter and I.
- I discuss my exegesis, The Creative Act as Ceremony: iTaukei Curatorial Practice and the Decolonial Imagination on Patreon – this post is a free read for registered members.
This postgraduate qualification enabled me to do the most meaningful research of my career, taking me home to Fiji and deep within my Fijian identity. Whilst I have wondered at times whether this is my calling to return home, I’ve realised that it also enriches the ways I work in Aotearoa even outside of Fijian contexts.
Last year, I started doing some exciting work with Tongan researcher, Dr Zaramasina Clark based at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington. We met through work I have been doing with Fijian researcher and educator, Associate Professor Dr Sereana Naepi who has bought me into a number of inspiring kaupapa. With both academics, my research in applied Indigenous knowledge has deepened the ways I work and advocate for both creative acts and artists. I’ve really enjoyed exploring the potential of visual language and creativity as a means to interpret complex research and create meaning in communities beyond academia. At our first in-person meet-up in February, Zaramasina and I were joined by my niece, Tiana Carling, a third-year student studying marine biology, ecology and biodiversity at Te Herenga Waka. This is such an exciting project and we’ve only just begun!
In short bursts during this time of writing and studying, administration and timesheets, I remembered how much my making practice needed to be part of my life. I made a series of mini banners and started stocking them at Moana Fresh in Avondale, West Auckland and whilst sold out at the moment, a new batch is currently in production!
I also did the largest salusalu garland commission for Auckland Pacific Economic Insights event held late last year – 34 individual garlands comprising of over 1700 individually hand-cut parts. The commission came at the time that Vunilagi Vou was hosting emerging Fijian filmmaker Taniela Tora so his helping hands, along with fellow textile artist Czarina Wilson, made this huge undertaking possible. Vinaka vakalevu to Candy Elsmore who always saw the value in hand-made, hand-sewn reusable garlands!
Over the past six months, I’ve also been working on a collaboration with Tongan designer, Czarina Wilson. For both of us, this process has been incredibly rewarding and labour-intensive; I’ve learned a lot in the process and whilst I’m dying to share more, we’re embargoed for a bit longer. Watch this space!
And through all of this, the biggest decision was made: in July, Vunilagi Vou will be relocating to the Wellington region ending a 25 year chapter in South Auckland. Family, salt water and a yearning for a softer pace have motivated this shift… and Wellington has always been important to me. I’m excited what form Vunilagi Vou will take in a new creative ecosystem.
In these sentimental weeks and months of saying good bye and closing this chapter, I wanted to make a small solo show to mark the moment.
Vakamuduo [gratitude overflowing] opens in Kū Kāhiko, the window gallery of Moana Fresh on Monday 27 April and runs until 19 May 2026. It’s a body of new textile works that have come from this shift and speak to the gratitude that overwhelms me when I think of what South Auckland has given me since moving here aged 19. Vakamuduo is a Fijian word for gratitude describing a scale that extends to the clouds (ō).
- Dreaming, thinking and making in this period of transition, getting ready to relocate has inspired this playlist featuring 25 tracks for 25 years in Auckland.
Please join us for this sentimental last – the last opening in Tāmaki Makaurau, for now!
OPENING: 11am, Monday 27 April [Anzac Day Observed]
WHERE: Moana Fresh, 64 Rosebank Road, Avondale, Auckland
All welcome!
The Patreon community have been an important constant during this time of uncertainty. Grateful much! There are three monthly subscriptions available – check them out here.
vinaka vakalevu