#Luisa Tora

[lindalofbroome]

original sketches

DELTORA FASHION CONCEPT ART V2

hello i have finally coloured some rough sketches of some deltoran fashions, a redraw of some really old sketches from ages ago.

im a pretty amateur concept artists and i hate designing clothes so truly was a challenge for me hahah BUT it has given me plenty of time to think of headcanons. im not sure what i've already posted about or not so im just gonna go ahead and rant

these characters were originally just models for me to draw the clothes on, so i didn't need to draw a new person every time; although in some of my earliest sketches of different people groups i did a bunch of people. but naturally these characters have developed a little and some of them are my beloved adin-era OCs <3

[about 4,500 words]

⬜ JALIS

since the jalis are reknowned for their warrior prowess and their signature gold armour, i thought it'd be neat that even if when they're not wearing the full set, they are always wearing their arm guards. it's a sense of pride and identity, they probably receive them as a rite of passage into adulthood. not every jalis is a knight, but they value a heart of courage and great feats and they all have them, and would wear them always (or at least special occasions if one prefers not).

i headcanon that jasmine was gifted her own set of arm guards as an expression of their respect and admiration of her. her relationship with glock grew so much and was cut off, but she earned her "heart of a jalis" and we didnt get to see much of jasmine and gers together, but theres plenty of time post-DQ3. i think my jasmine and the jalis thoughts should be a separate post though, otherwise this post will never end 😂

i dont imagine that the jalis had special party clothes, i think they just turn up in their usual clothes and get drunk and dance their hearts out maybe start a brawl thats none of my business

i cant remember why i've been giving them this geometric sort of pattern tbh. i think i drew someone at some point and wanted it to look different to mcbride's design but im not sure if i like it or not. the plus is that i can make diamond motifs though!!

i also cant really remember how my brown skin gold hair came to be 🤔🤔 wait backtracking i think what happened is that i decided to draw del people as black latinx inspired, so it wasn't that big a step to make jalis also dark skinned since they're both in the south (deltora geography is weird tho so like it's not that deep) and then i think i made them blonde as i "why not??" situation but tHEN i thought maybe it's connected to their jalis gold?

my headcanon is that their armour is made of a unique metal that can only be found in diamond territory, it's super hard, tough, and light etc. so maybe whatever is In The Ground is also in them and their blood and shows in their hair????

🥳 fun fact 🥳 wasn't until i had to draw steven and glock side by side that i had realised what i'd done?? i.e. steven canonically has brown skin gold hair too¹. which now forces me to think about whether it should be a coincidence (like it is) or shall i headcanon that steven and nevets' father was jalis² 🤔 ¹ pretty sure it's about the dichotomy, to show contrast but connection between the brothers. i have many steven and nevets thoughts but that should also be another post ² i am.

🟩 DREAD GNOMES

these characters are adin-era, so unfortunately this would be when the gnomes still hunt the kin. whats weird is that i realised that i was picturing the caramelly brown fabric that this gnome is wearing was the kin pelt and not the big furry parts?? i usually picture the kin as more like velvetty. idk what the thicker fur parts would be though?? literally any other animal i guess 😅 i dont know it doesn't make sense and it's only occurring to me right now i shall have to think about it lmao

anyway made them green because why not. maybe they come in different colours idk. this gnome is pre-gellick so does go out in the sun, gellick-era gnomes would be waaaaay more paler they probably looked white. this could be similar to the jalis and like theres something in the grounddd

gla-thon claims that the dread gnomes knew that lesser gems had weaker but the same powers of the great talisman gems (sots), but im not sure if they knew it before adin. would be interesting if they did 🤔 and how they figured it out?? (side note but now im wondering about how withick knew what to write about the gems??) would imply that if they got the great emerald than they could deduce there are others surely. unless they thought it was a freak accident/miracle. anyway we know they love gems and gold etc etc so they obviously decorate themselves with heaps of jewellery

triangle motifs in homage to their mountain 💚

i gave them a sort of war paint ritual. i'm not sure if they all do the same markings, but this one was specifically to symbolise a bow and arrow (arrow going up the nose). you can see it a bit better here lol. i also decided that sometimes they wear it for purely cosmetic purposes. im not sure what the substance is exactly though. i think in my head i was imagining something similar to kohl, but maybe not.

🥳 fun fact 🥳 bre-tak and az-zure are lesbians (i make the rules)

🟦 MERE

oooooh baby this is my guy my babygirl my everything

okay so i think this headcanon developed recently when i last drew sky of rithmere and i thought that mere superstition encouraged them to wear their charms in random spots to avoid them cancelling each other out. it could be construed to be they were inspired by the night sky and the pattern of the stars perhaps. this led them to prefer asymmetrical fashions, mostly prominent in the armour i put badr in

🥳 fun fact 🥳 badr means "full moon" 👀

i think i originally decided the mere had leather armour just to give them something different iirc but the mere characters we see are usually the lithe, speedy, crafty type, so maybe light, mobile armour does work for them lol. anyway the main reason is that i had the image of studded leather, and i was like ohohoho STARS

i generally think of them with muted colours but sometimes they have a bold blue for their prized garmants. like zillah and co, the leaders of rithmere in adin's time were described with bright blue and starry cloaks. (i checked the wiki just to check zillah's name lol and apparently it's actually canon they have leather armour?? so not sure why i thought otherwise) anyway i do currently have minecraft brain but i did vaguely remember that people made ultramarine pigment from grinding lapis lazuli into a powder and im not sure if thats something the mere would do or if there's some strong blue dyes they can get from plants or something native to their territory 🤔

actually im liking that idea now? it would be incredibly time-consuming and labour-intensive but that would add to its value?? real world lapis lazuli has a horrible yield rate of 1kg lapis to 30g of pigment apparently, but it's a strong pigment (unless i misunderstand). alternative name for ultramarine is "permanent blue" apparently so. anyway ultramarine irl is more of a paint pigment, but in roddaverse maybe the mere make a lucky blue dye to use on cloaks and scarfs and shawls etc for good fortune?? me frantically checking that i put badr and luisa's wedding garb in bold blue lmAO oh i did but it's a little muted. they mix in oils and stuff to make the paint, so it doesnt seem like a stretch that they can mix different ingredients or ratio to make a cloth dye (to my very amateur understanding).

so im imagining now that they have a special (probably secret within the mere) process to create bright blue thread speckled with white (also gold to me. im pro deltora lapis with gold) and weave it into their beautiful starry night fabric. the amount of labour and the use of their prized lapis lazuli makes it very special, and maybe some people think it's the lapis that makes the fabric lucky or maybe some people think it's the work of love and time that makes it lucky, maybe both.

🥳 fun fact 🥳 i forgot that "bless your lucky stars" is like a real saying until recently lol

a starry cloak is probably something only the really rich could afford, but i think that they are more like heirlooms and states of office? im not sure if these pieces are things that one would purchase or something they would receive. bit hard to imagine people doing it for free but maybe it's one of those staple things that they revere and everyone else works to support them as well etc like the cooks in noradz are prized. idk. but yeah like a poorer family couldn't get a new one, but they would have one that has been in their family for generations you know? and i think that there would be something about like. idk youre meeting up with your doctor or something and youre nervous and you put on your family's best clothes (the most lucky ones) and maybe youre cynical about the whole good fortune stuff but there's something comforting about wearing the cloak your mother wore and your grandmother and your great grandmother wore, who also had to do such things. something something gives you the confidence to make your own luck because youre no longer pessimistic and allowing avoidable mistakes to happen

this means that the mere giving adin a cloak was a REALLY big deal because they definitely dont just go throwing those around and they would probably only give it to an outsider in trade for a steeeeeeeeeeeep price. which of course means that there would be knock offs with bad quality dye. lmao thats perfect actually. like 10000% there would be merchants in rithmere trying to sell cheaper versions to people that are expensive but still affordable to the average person. some would be different shades of blue, but the more crafty might have dyes that are strong but not lasting.

oh also i headcanon that palace fashion was a conglomerate of aspects from all the tribes but this should be it's own post i think. but i just remembered that i put gold thread in badr's braids in the formal wear sketch. i did that to tie in with the veins/flecks of gold (technically pyrite) in irl lapis lazuli. as such, people at del palace were inspired to weave gold into their hair too.

also gives me another thing to ship badr and luisa lmao. badr can wear some gold and luisa can wear some blue as a treat for me <3 moon and stars ocs beloved

🟨 DEL

alright. okay so del is definitely very white western patriarchal coded (most just a bias of living in that type of society i reckon) but it sucks and i'm passionate about making del NOT that. i think i've said this a million times now but this should be it's own post too, but most succinctly del is a very vibrant, curious, and daring sort of culture (e.g. their recklessness, exploration, trading). they were already marrying non-deltorans before adin (i imagine that some might have dared to marry outside of del, but it would have been way more politically complex so it was rarer and often kept quiet and rural). people of del were moving to other countries (like dorne) and people were probably moving to del, so del is definitely a big mix of different people and languages and superstitions and stuff.

but anyway i wanted to set a sort of base for before that. i've had art on the wip pile for YEARS about this and i'd flesh this out properly when it's done lol (hopefully we see that day) but since the topaz has the power to summon spirits, i really wanted to develop an aspect of del culture around that? i was inspired by Día De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and i still want to do some more in depth research and explore it more properly, but i like the idea that del will celebrate their lost loved ones life, coming together to remember, if they were lucky the got to see and even talk to their spirits. maybe pre-talisman they did know about topaz properties and they had a big deposit of gems that they would wheel out for the festival and the huge pile under the full moon would be enough to allow the spirits and people to interact? anyway this is a longwinded explanation of why my sketches of del fashion could be latinx inspired.

circle motifs in homage to the moon. the trim decoration on luisa's scabbards are based on moon phases :D

i also arbitrarily decided that del people love swishy clothes. they're all about the drama of cloaks and twirling in sundresses etc it's fun. not sure if i will actually follow through with that lol or maybe that can just be luisa.

🥳 fun fact 🥳 i think hearing luisa laugh would heal me

there's no particular reason for why i've been drawing a lot of del people as black, other than maybe spite lol. i think i drew jasmine and that got the ball rolling. del is a blank enough slate that they can be anything. im tired of white people being the front runners asldkjfhalsdf. bUT again del is multicultural, so there isn't a particular look for anyone in del. being del is more a state of mind and being part of community i think. you move to del and you participate in their society in one way or another and boom youre del now they adopted you.

🌈 PLAINS

hiran attire inspired by french aristocratic fashion. i cant remember who posted about it but pretty sure this was something that circulated around the fandom at least a little bit at some point.

added some subtle rainbow to harlow's outfits because he's the strong silent type. but i suppose there are so much more gaudier and extravagant outfits.

i was going to say this was just hira fashion and not like, rural plains fashion but i guess this is the same for all of them. it's just like a general direction for what someone might wear.

the swirly patterns?? i dont know. i drew them when i did adin's pre-battle speech as the last supper but i dont think there's a particular reason. i remember that i was trying to do something unique because lief recognises the cup in the city of rats as the same/similar to the one in noradz, so there had to be something to be recognisable lol but i probably just did it this way because it's relatively easy to doodle, just takes a bit of time.

🥳 fun fact 🥳 harlow was a cook before the shadow invasion. out of desperation, he and many others had to train to defend hira. he's big with natural balance and reflexes so he excelled and is a pretty adept warrior, but he will always think of himself as a cook first, warrior second.

now the armour!! freshest headcanon piping hot. yesterday when i was colouring i was sitting there like wow you look like a tin can man and you are so boring. we went from pretty colours to blank. im almost certain the hiran soldiers were described as silver with white plumes, so i was planning on doing that but they had intricate details on their armour because they are Extra, so it has the swirly patterns you can see on harlow's coat.

but then suddenly i was like. what if. pearlescent.

and honestly i loved it so much i didnt care i was setting myself up for some difficult work ahead lmao. but my general idea was that they're armour looked like it was silver, but if the light catches it at the right angle it exposes the rainbow in it. most of these headcanons i've had baking for at least a year, but this is very new so i dont any hard details yet. kira mentioned enamel or ceramic and lowkey interested in having a look into that so that theres another armour material. maybe it's gonna be like special jalis gold and special plains silver. maybe something else. i also just remembered bismuth exists (same boat as gold as very heavy and soft) but i think maybe it's too loud, i think im liking the more subtle pearlescent thing aLTHOUGH it's a good metallic rainbow reference 👀 maybe there is an esteemed plains warrior with a rainbow sword

ANYWAY pearlescent armour really hit my heart because oh my god once upon a time the plains had a shore and they could visit the sea,,,, lowkey ocean vibes without an ocean [screaming crying cat spinning in a void.gif]

🥳 fun fact 🥳 i have NO idea what food harlow has made. i think i had ratatouille on the brain at the time????

🟥 RALADS

⚠ PROPAGANDA ALERT ⚠

ruby territory best territory. ruby symbol of happiness. warns of danger AND antidote to poison. double helpful. ralads are so sweet and so smart. architectural and engineering marvels. living in harmony with the land and beasts. D'OR!!! manus and nanion friendship underrated and so special to me. horse girls. AND. broome. god theres so much i could say about broome that i cant say anything. anyway you guys know im normal about broome yes of course. separate post etc etc

i think technically this is a headcanon but it's not that big a stretch surely but as above i always picture ralads as in harmony with nature. never take more than they need, know how to work with not against, theyre not the main attraction but an equal part of the bigger picture.. this isn't even about how smart they are with engineering and their perfectly round houses with bricks that are cut perfectly. im thinking about their knowledge of their world is so strong and wide and diverse. they have the most vibrant and potent dyes and pigments around, they have the most colourful fabrics and clothes around. the plains has many colours but it can't compete, and they have different styles. i think that the hirans would trade for the dyes though (maybe undercutting pre-adin, maybe more equal post-unification). i think that they would also have a pretty decent blue dye but it is still inferior to mere lapis lazuli blue. it is probably a dye that could be used for a mid range mere garment?

maybe it's the anime fault but i do usually imagine ralads as barefoot but i also drew iris with construction tools and just the idea of ralads walking around a construction site barefoot was not fun to me. but it could be a hobbit tough soles situation. anyway i drew some shoes so i had a vague reference if i wanted to draw ralad shoes.

obviously had a problem drawing warrior attire for a non-war race. but i thought what if i leaned into the stories the hirans tell about how the scouts and soldiers they send into the ralad wilds never returned and were often found dead with broken bones or whatnot. definitely big watching but never seen vibes imo. so i decked iris out in some camouflage lol

🥳 fun fact 🥳 im sure the ralads can whistle and whatnot to make birdcall signals, but i thought it was fun for iris to be able to make birdcalls with her flute

HEY ALSO headcanon about ralad hair. i was making some dragon art from a doran pov that i was going to save for that but i cant wait now. but we know from Tales that the ralads had a good relationship with the ruby dragons, could even summon them (unless im misremembering and it was more like a premeditated calling) but i was thinking about how they nest with .. human? hair. and i was thinking what if they grow out their hair? and then they offer it to a dragon when they are ready? i dont know if there's a nesting season for dragons but it could be something like that? ralad-dragon ceremony and party time. this isn't a rite of passage type of thing, just something that they like to do. not everyone does it probably, but most do it once, some people do it several or many times in their lifetime. it's an honour, but not really a sacrifice to them. it's part of the world balance and theyre willing to serve the dragons as the dragons serve them as they water the plants and the plants feed them and they feed beasts and beasts feed them.

also dont remember why i did the hair so bright and orangey??? genuinely perplexed lmao. probably was leaning into irl ginger but like THEYRE BLUE so i could probably make them actual red. not sure if this is also like a "theres something in the ground" situation also that makes their hair red but maybe 😂😂

side note but it's lowkey so wild to me that rodda was like yeah these guys are blue-grey with red hair, and then everyone else is like an average person, BUT the mountain people are short. like they're all just some guy basically???

it does make return to del so so funny because fallow is like AYO look at these MONSTERS they are UGLY and WEIRD

but i guess thats part of the motivation to give the deltora tribes some basic unique traits.

🟪 TORANS

okay so toran robes as inspired by japanese fashion is definitely something that's floated around the fandom for ages. i can't remember if it was before or after seeing posts about it that i started my first concept sketches but i think it probably had a hand in helping me visualise what rodda was talking about when she described their robes as butterfly wings when they speed-travelled. like yeah big deep sleeves and floor trailing hems WOULD probably look like colourful butterfly wings in the wind,,

🥳 fun fact 🥳 azami be always hungry. if only she knew someone who liked to cook 🤔

i don't have much to say design-wise, kinda just did various doodling. they would probably be second in extravagance to the plains, but it's a different sort of detail? they are probably a bit more refined and elegant than the hirans who are probably more bold in their designs. torans grow to be vain and selfish (it's already started by adin's time) so they probably have a high value on the beauty of their belongings, and it probably began with imagery of beasts and plants and dragons in amethyst territory, "true" pictures. but as time went on it probably distorted a bit and became idealised and/or fantastical etc.

OKAY SO my brain bluescreened just now for a moment trying to figure out how a people who use magic to make life easier, were also the ones known for their weaving, a manual hands-on task (lief's cloak is praised as being worthy of toran looms, implying high grade; pretty sure this was supposed to be a hint that his mother is not who he thinks she is also). some conclusions are 1) they weave with magic (sad, horrible), 2) they weave as a past-time, for fun etc (okay) but i took it to a third option

for a long time ive been thinking about toran magic as like, a balance and an energy thing (because i like that stuff lol) they cannot create something from nothing, only change things. they couldnt summon a fire, but they could change a piece of wood to fire and start a campfire, or those more advanced could even change the air into fire. but honestly it's left me a bit unsatisfied. like how does that explain the tora-del highway? hELL tora itself? what happened to the marble that got carved away? also how can that mountain have been so perfect there was no cracks or seams?? or did they carve those bits out lol. questions for another day.

anyway i was thinking about how hobbies are good for you, you dont have to be good at something but it's good to do stuff for fun and when you do crafts you get a cool thing at the end of it that you made. but it's also like skills you can develop? and i wondered what if weaving is a starter skill that they learn, some of them at least. maybe there are different activities, and they do the one that speaks to them the most. there were other types of artisans in tora, just not as talked about (i guess they're robes are pretty iconic so it's easy for people to go wow robes wow weavers who made fabric for the robes so soft) like i distinctly remember barda remarking about how tora was untouched and why bandits wouldn't have stolen the carved box that ended up holding the auto-reply letters from the palace.

so what im thinking is that maybe this builds a foundation to help torans visualise and perform their magic?

it actually solves a problem ive had in my headcanons i feel like ive got seven eyes open rn 😂😂 but in relation to del culture and traditions, i've been thinking about there being a physical and spiritual realm of course, and maybe it's the comfort of threes but it felt like something was missing.

i dont know what to call it yet, but im thinking the third thing is like the glue, it connects all things, it's in everything. it's like a third realm but also more of like a medium maybe? kind of sappy but we can just call this the magical realm for now. i actually used to think of toran magic as being like a subset of the greater deltora magic, but now im thinking it's more like torans are more receptive to the magic realm, as del are to the spiritual, and the ralads to the physical; theyre the experts in these things, which is why unified deltora is important 😂; likewise dread gnomes specialise in gems, jalis in combat, mere in cunning, plains in hope perhaps? literally never thought about it quite like this so maybe i will process it different later and designate different specialties.

so when the torans are young, they learn a craft and these skills help them sort of "tap into" the magical realm. so in the case i first thought of, when a toran weaver starts to see and interact with the magical realm, the easiest way for them to engage with it would be to think of it as weaving. they might see the magical realm as threads that connect everything, and weave things together to get what they want. a potter might see it as a malleable mass and sculpt what they want. a carpenter might see it as something to carve, something to break and put together.

the magical realm is not a concrete thing at all, up to interpretation, perhaps a unique experience to anyone who could glimpse in; don't strictly have to be toran, but they are perhaps naturally receptive to it or it could even be entirely a knowledge thing and that they are taught about it more; someone like verity who had her eyes opened to this realm, and learned to interact with it on instinct. does open questions to what the hell is up with the plains lmao but i think thats another post.

__

sorry about all the "i'll tell you in another post" i was attempting to stay on track 😂😂 also there's a 90% chance im gonna forget to come back and write about them so if anyone is dying to know feel free to send me an ask or something???

also if you want to know more about these OCs let me know 👀 i can find an ask game or something maybe. it's a case of i know a lot but will forget it all if asked to speak freely, i need specific questions. i have also developed the first four a bit more, but the last three are not without character so they can still be included. maybe it will be a group effort and they will have Background.

[pimpiknows]

This review of the recent exhibition, Wantok at Māngere Arts Centre – Ngā Tohu o Uenuku was originally written for ARTtalk (Issue 12), Fiji’s independent online art magazine.

As a curator, I view exhibitions in a few different ways. I think about the artwork and its medium, its politics and its placement. The artist – their positionality, their background and their message. The lighting even, the layout and feel of the Gallery. I think about the curator and their agenda, the experience of the audience, and often, the relationship of the exhibition themes to the exhibition’s site; who is this exhibition for?

Wantok is a group show of new work by nine Melanesian women artists, including the work of its curator. Produced for Māngere Arts Centre – Ngā Tohu o Uenuku, Wantok is part of the Gallery’s commitment to celebrating the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage, the landmark moment Aotearoa New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world to grant all women the right to vote in parliamentary elections. Māngere Arts Centre is a local government funded facility situated in the South Auckland suburb of Māngere, well known for its large, youthful and well-established Polynesian population.

The exhibition’s curator is Luisa Tora, a Fijian writer and visual artist who now calls Ōtāhuhu, South Auckland, home. She has invited artists to make new work around the theme of “decolonised views of beauty and mana through the lens of spirituality and symbolism associated with hair in Melanesian cultures”. The artists all live in Auckland, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne and represent ancestral connections to Fiji, Tokelau, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Granada (Caribbean), the South Sea Islander community, Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

In the case of the arts landscape of Aotearoa New Zealand, where Oceania is commonly viewed and understood through a Polynesian lens, this presentation of Melanesian diaspora experience requires context. This can be done effectively with well-crafted artwork labels and interpretive text, but this is absent from the show and the potential to diversify public perceptions about the wider Oceania region and the richness of Melanesian diaspora experience is frustratingly lost. Whilst much of the work in the exhibition is fighting hard to have space to be understood and interpreted, so many nuances of the artists’ approaches, thinking and themes are lost by not offering audiences ways for this work to be heard.

However, there is presence in the space. The presence of Melanesian women, of brown skin, and the clear control of those bodies and that representation in front, and behind the lens. And with four different video-based works in the two galleries, the exhibition is noisy! There are voices, conversations and laughing coming from the works of Torika Bolatagici and Salote Tawale, but a watery soundtrack emanating from a large-scale projected video work by Tufala Meri (the creative partnership of sisters, Molana and Reina Sutton) fills most of the exhibition’s soundscape.

Torika Bolatagici’s striking Tadrua Series (the space between) (2018) is six large scale portraits of strong, brown skinned women and girls with curly hair maintaining mesmerising connections with the camera. They are larger than life, a kind of feminine futuristic visual anthropology of Oceania. Whilst each image represents the same upper part of the body, each subject holds themselves differently; there are anthologies in the stories behind their eyes, equal parts strength and vulnerability in their postures, and pride and presence in their hair. In the accompanying video work, Tadra (to dream), the subjects are filmed resting on the acrylic kali, a kind of futuristic Fijian headrest made in collaboration with Lienors Torre and Shaun Bangay. The object itself sits unassumingly in the corner of the gallery on a plinth; set on a motion sensor, and with an internal sound device, occasionally women’s voices emanate from it, talking story about hair and rituals.

The stories and conversations from Bolatagici’s kali informed another collaborative aspect of this ambitious project in the form of a performative response by Ayeesha Ash and Emele Ugavule (members of the Sydney-based Black Birds collective). Marking the opening of the exhibition, Ash and Ugavule’s performance was meditative and graceful. They moved through the space, filling the room with Fijian vocal harmonies, amplifying the hair as an extension of the body and in its cutting, a significant act of bodily and emotional detachment. Their performance gave life to the space, connecting the artwork on the walls, to the audience who had come to greet it.

Jasmine Togo-Brisby’s large scale lightboxes depict photographic portraits of herself, her daughter and her mother, each with long curly hair adorned with a model sailing ship on top of their heads. Their gazes vary, and their garb is Victorian and formal. Without any context of the artist’s South Sea Islander genealogy and the history of the black birding slave trade in Melanesia, these works are perplexing, but confusing. Despite providing audiences with no context for this work and its themes, the light box is a beautiful medium that makes photography pop, commanding your attention.

Tufala Meri is sisters Molana and Reina Sutton. Their work includes five installations of domestic-like assemblages of photographs and objects, furniture and books, and a performative video work that is presented as a large scale full wall projection. In the video, the sisters initially appear to be very aware of the camera, holding poses with a large wooden bowl with characteristic Solomon Island shell inlay around the rim. They are standing next to a beautiful stream, on rocks, wearing similar neon patterned dresses and bare feet. The audio is watery, there is laughter and a woman’s voice. The sound of scrubbing, or rubbing can be heard, hoots and children’s giggles. It becomes clear that the video does not match the sound, but the two are related. The sisters gradually become more relaxed, and the shots tighten to capture closer views of their faces and actions. Suddenly, we see a photograph, another Melanesian woman – the sisters’ mother. The photograph is in the wooden bowl, it is carefully removed and placed on a rock, along with flowers and mementos.

Splashes and a sporadic deep rhythmic beat can be heard, almost like hearing the deep bass coming from someone’s headphones. The voices and laughter are joyful. We hear the presence and closeness of the water and the children… we hear a time and space, and we see another. The sisters play with each other’s hair, they laugh and splash and the light on the water running across boulders is almost golden. They use the wooden bowl to drench each other’s hair, which is thick and curly. The audio gets quiet, we see but we can’t hear. There is no more sound, just visuals, symbols – tattoos – body language, and land. The video ends with a final shot of the stream.

In conversation with Reina Sutton at the Wantok opening, I learned that the audio is from a home video of their late mother, shot in the Solomon Islands in 2008. It captures their mum at the river with her cousins, laughing, washing and the mesmerising beat that can be heard is water drumming. The work, Tufala Meri Blo Tiu lays the audio of their mother’s video over their own ‘home video’, filmed in Aotearoa New Zealand.

I spent time feeling mesmerised by this work and moved by the loving homage to their mother. I love that the scale of the video projection means their mother’s face is so large and present in the gallery, a beautiful and heartfelt dedication. Tufala Meri created a space for sitting, resting and being comfortable, which I appreciate; they effectively invite audiences to enjoy their work, be comforted and to listen and hear their message.

In a similar audio / video mash up, Salote Tawale’s video work, Polite Disguise (2018) overlays the sound of conversations between women about hair and othering with a series of performative Western beauty rituals. Tawale carries out the removal of her own hair via tweezers, scissors, hair clippers and adhesive strips. It is high definition, sometimes clumsy, and at points almost cringe-inducing and painful. In between her performative hair removal processes, the video intersperses popular hair product advertising jingles and YouTube-like vlogger cutaways. The work is shown on a monitor adorned with a large black and pink artificial flower garland that obstructs the corners of the screen, a confusingly unnecessary addition.

Dulcie Stewart’s series, Flora vitensis; drauniulu edition (2018) feels like the quietest work in the show. Stewart uses reproductions of botanical illustrations overlaid on the faces of Fijian women from ethnographic photographs, many of which exist in archives around the world with no biographic information about the subject. Stewart calls into question the visual ‘silencing’ of these women by rendering them nameless, disconnecting them from their past and their future. Interspersed with these photographic assemblages are a series of hand-drawn botanical illustrations of plants from Fiji, named Flora vitensis. In contrast to the ethnographic portraits, Flora vitensis are documented thoroughly, depicting their history and plant-based genealogy, uses and properties.

There’s a diplomacy about Stewart’s work, simultaneously thoughtful and confronting. She brings her interests in literature and archives, paper and records, together beautifully. She is both protector and promoter, reframing histories written about us but not for us.

The work I’m reluctant to mention, because curators being both author and artist in their own exhibitions is problematic, is a video portrait by Luisa Tora. In a topless self-portrait, Tora is superimposed against a galactic moving backdrop full of shooting stars, moons and planets. Her hair throbs outward from her head like a woolly halo, her stance stoic and defiant. Her gaze is not directly at the viewer and there’s an almost Mona Lisa like quality to the emotion or lack of emotion in her face. It’s a work that engages and titillates a lot of people because it’s ‘cool’, but for me feels like an unnecessary addition to the exhibition and something you might find if you type ‘God complex’ into a gif finder.

My friend Nigel Borell, a fellow curator, shared with me his appreciation of this show, noting that Auckland audiences appreciate the different framing of Pacific Islander experience. Whilst we are different, we have a shared imperialist histories and hair is a vessel for colonisation carrying ideas of shame and beauty, pride and presence. Nigel is right.

This exhibition could not be closer to my core as a Fijian woman curator living in South Auckland. Many of these artists are respected friends and peers, and their collective presence in the gallery is life-giving. I’ve spent hours in the space, because being close to these representations of Melanesian diaspora experience is affirming and empowering. Despite the lack of interpretive text and artwork labels, there is value in the presence of these works.

Curate is derived from the Latin term cūrā(re) meaning to care for, attend to. Luisa Tora cared enough to devise the concept of this exhibition, and Māngere Arts Centre offered space to bring it to life. The caring can’t stop at that; audiences are essential in enabling artwork to arrive, to be heard and to land. The dialogue between artwork and audience is what leaves the impression and changes culture. Hopefully the exhibition’s upcoming publication will deepen the impact of Wantok, but perhaps the most significant repercussion of this show is the connections forged between the artists and their efforts to be present in this space.

Wantok

Featuring Torika Bolatagici with Blackbirds, Dulcie Stewart, Molana & Reina Sutton, Salote Tawale, Jasmine Togo-Brisby, Luisa Tora Curated by Luisa Tora

21 April – 26 May 2018 Māngere Arts Centre – Ngā Tohu o Uenuku, South Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand

#UnpopularOpinion: Critiquing Wantok This review of the recent exhibition, Wantok at Māngere Arts Centre - Ngā Tohu o Uenuku was originally written for 

[tigertoramaru]

La familia Madrigal!

[shivanjani-lal]

Palwaar, 2019

13 piece Haldi watercolour on Masi. Dimensions variable.

Masi sourced Sigatoka town, Fiji.

Haldi sourced Harkola whole sellers, Auburn.

Courtesy the artist.

Palwaar,

meaning family in Fijian Hindi, is a 13-piece watercolour on Masi. The work takes two materials that connect my personal history and use it to speak of my identity: haldi (turmeric) and Masi (a pounded wood found in Fiji), which creates a gradient that becomes an elegy for leaving and holding on.

The work uses a watercolour technique developed in Indian Art School: Shantinketan. Haldi painted Masi is pulled through water. This water becomes a metaphor for the Kala Pani [black water], a taboo relating to the removal of indentured labourers and their inability to return to India.

The black water becomes a site that is both a place of removal and renewal. The act of pulling through the Pacific ocean is what allowed my family to became Indo-Fijian.

Each piece is dedicated to a member of my immediate family and to my Aaji and Nanni who have passed away.

This work was made in conversation and consultation with iTaukei Fijian Australian and New Zealand Artists: Salote Tawale and Luisa Tora.

Photographs by Zan Wimberley

[coralshort]

I had a very busy end of summer pulling together the giant annual fundraiser Witch Rave successfully after a dramatic spooky lightening storm!  This year’s event was co-organized this year with best friends and artists: Alex Tsoli, Jean P’ark, Orion Twinkle and Winnie SuperHova. Together with the community we again miraculously raised thousands to provide an opportunity for many talented artists to participate in Murmurs. Thank you to the almost 1,000 people who came out to support this fundraiser. Murmurs was the first queer sound art residency in the world. With organizers and BetOnest director Yoav Adamoni – we were 31 that filled the art hotel! The largest event ever in the space and ColorBlock joined us for a big party making it the funnest party of 2018 at the new residency space.

The amazing artists who participated in the residency were:

Pêdra Costa

Ze Royale

Henry Wilde

 NeoNeoneo Hülcker

Hannah Levin

Lyd AD.

Gee

Zinzi Buchanan aka Zi Ro Buch

Lady Gaby

Mikatsiu Høres

Lori Elisabeth

Luiza Moraes

 Gambletron

Johnny Forever

Miriam Schickler

Vincent aka Consumer-Refund

Lulu

Aisha Sasha John

Lydia Miligkou

Antigoni Tsagkaropoulou

Maa Yaa

Alex Alvina Chamberland

Caitlin Fischer

Sherry Ostpovitch

Vera Hofmann

Sophie W. Pagliai

Here are some photos from the beautiful Murmurs residency:

—————————————————————————————————————————————��Two weeks later my partner Ryan Backer and I took the train to Amsterdam and biked around a lot in all sorts of weather. We went to the Art Deco Sauna to warm up and relax which was incredible!  Then I curated Genderclear at Transcreen.

This is one of my favourite bills of my life. It was carefully juried by friends Angel Ka, Anna Helme, Nabeela Vega, Raven Davis, Russell Louder and Ryan Patrick Backer.

Jespa Jacob Smith, Anakin Tora,Brettley Kai and Wyatt Riot were in attendance which was such a total delight. This program was funded by Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa

Video artists on the bill: Jespa Jacob Smith, Justin Shoulder & Bhenji Ra, SATURN, Mitch Mitchell, Erum Khan, Anakin Tora, JJ Levine , Brettley Kai and Wyatt Riot, Namita Aavriti, Thirza Cuthand, Buzz Slutsky, Kinga and Winnie Superhova, Max Rocha, Kübra Varol, Isaiah Lawrence, Lene Ricarda Vollhardt and Luce Delire and HYENAZ

After trip the next weekend this Ryan Backer and I had an ecosexual commitment ceremony/ ritual in the light rain in a forest led by my platonic wyfe performance artist and porn star Sadie Lune. This event took place at Quecke with our 20 closest Berlin friends in attendance followed by a giant feast.

—————————————————————————————————————————————–While gardening at the Tauenblau estate in October, I got to spend some time back at BetOnest with some great artists from New York, Glasgow, Montreal and Philly that I have had the joy to work with before: Hannah Levin, Ben Owns, Nash Glynn, Stephanie Creaghan and Evie Snax! Also I got to meet and listen to inspiring stories from Yoshiko Chuma for my first time.

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I worked at the Berlin Porn Film Festival in October 10 hours a day again running the Spektrum Venue with Alex Tsoli for almost a week. I curated the last of the Berlin Series of 2017 called FEAST on loop in the lobby of the Spektrum ��� art science community. Many of the artists were here for the festival Theo Meow, Candy Flip, Lori Elisabeth, Cybee Bloss and AORTA films which was exciting.

FEAST An experimental short film curation on loop Coral serves up the best in food porn mixed in with a sprinkling of high art for you to devour. These hedonistic video artists gorge on fruit, picnics, bodies, hot dogs, cakes, candy, and last but not least gallons of milk. Get some food to go and come sit at the Spektrum to spend some quality time chewing and swallowing these beautiful and visceral videos in between screenings. Headphones will be provided for this sumptuous overindulgence. A generous helping of thanks to Zachary Hutchinson, Cybee Bloss, Anna Luisa Petrisko, Nabeela Vega and Ryan Backer for ideas and support with this curation. This delicious experience is free of charge!

Kailey Bryan and Pepa Chan Eat Your Heart Out .56 Over four hours they feed each other a seven course meal. Gestures range from smirking and silly to hurtful and aggressive. Attentiveness gives way to laziness; resentment builds. As carelessness action becomes malicious, the performers feel the weight of their own callousness. Tenderness re-emerges. With each bite they contend with their impulses and suffer the emotional consequences of their actions. Sometimes we hurt each other out of ignorance. Silly, attentive, callous, malicious, and sorrowful, this durational performance is a quiet but high-octane emotional ride. World Premiere

D.S. Chapman Mending 4.01 Through a reflective performance, the artist alludes to the reparative nature of transitioning their body. Confronted with a subtle, visual break with reality, the viewer is asked to navigate and mitigate their relationship to the perceived trauma that has been done and is being subsequently undone in the video. European Premiere

Claire Arctander Feeding Time 2.25 Feeding Time is a pithy, sexy video that feels raw but is ultimately G-rated. The artist plays an intentionally ambiguous role – is she top or bottom, commanding or commanded? European Premiere

Asaf Aharonson, Chih Ying, Josephine Beckers, Kasia Wolinska, Konstantine,Martin Hansen Asia Tickler: on fruits and phantasy 3.26 Human and fruit relations enjoy a long and entangled history with notions of the erotic, from ancient Greek hedonisms to subliminally suggestive works of European art from the Middle Ages to twentieth century performance art. Most honourably, fruit nourishes our bodies. Asia Tickler draws attention to the tactile limits of human bodies with fruit, exploring pleasure in various encounters of absurdist ‘waste’. European premiere

Yoshie Sakai Come one eat all 4.54 In the video piece Come One, Eat All (2007), I concoct my own cultural icon as an animated “adult-girl” doll child, whose only objective is to endlessly and tirelessly eat fast food (McDonald’s French fries and Kentucky Fried Chicken) and junk food (Lay’s potato chips, powdered donuts, chocolate bars, and M&Ms) at a frenetic pace, as moving images of amusement park rides sped up considerably cause a mesmerizing and nauseating sensation for the viewer. Along with the creepy soundtrack “Carnival of Souls” by Combustible Edison and screaming noises from the people on the rides, I attempt to convey the vicious cycle of dizzying consumption and the irrepressible nature of overindulgence unnaturally forced upon us by the marketplace. European Premiere

Devyn Manibo Sediment 002 5.34 Part of a series of durational, visual, and textural experiments which uses rice to explore the materiality of grief, memory, and accumulation World Premiere

Nabeela Vega Thahab-Papaya 3.33 Part of an ongoing project: “Visiting Thahab” Visiting Thahab investigates the identity of a Muslim American femme in the post 9/11 diaspora. It takes forms that are performative, collaborative, generous, vulnerable, and exquisitely beautiful. World Premiere

LAZY MOM Hungry Hungry Hot Dog 2.34 Based on the children’s book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” this stop motion animation features a ravenous sausage wiggling its way through junk food on a coming-of-age journey. European Premiere

Glitter Hangover Rub 1.29 Glitter Hangover, acoustic Peaches cover band, presents their debut music video, Rub. We are frivolous, camp, and queer. Our work is about subversive pleasure and building temporary communities. It’s low-tech, DIY and offers space for revelry. German Premiere

Sister Mantos Last Night (Mirror Mirror Remix) 3.23 Video directed and edited by David Riley Photography by Benjamin Gallardo Set design by R. Kelsey Hall Shrimp headgear by Andytoad

Meow Meow Calamares 3.43 Slimy octopus dream sequence. Remember: You always eat the ones you love. Starring Candy Flip, camera by Theo Meow

Star Kim (aka Cho Mihee, aka Kimura Byol, aka Nathalie Lemoine) 2017-bap-bob Gender fluid made of bap (cooked rice) juice… bibiming (mixing) bap for bob … who is gender fluid. 1.40 World Premiere

Natalie Valencia Gluttony 1.26 World Premiere

Jacqueline Mary and Violette Dentata Girl with the Most Cake 1.13 Two femmes get wild with cake.

Cybee Bloss Squirt 30 seconds World Premiere

Sarah Hill and Hayley Morgenstern Eat THAT! Poison Apple 9.24 In Hayley Morgenstein’s performance of Snow White’s poison scene, she feasts instead of sleeps, gluttonously eating not one but several apples. My version of Snow White gorges herself on Poison Apples, gnashing and gnawing them into pieces, obliterating her potential destruction, letting apple pieces and juices stream out of her mouth, rendered defective, void of power. This gesture activates my own feminist refusal to be saved; to reject the position of having-to-be-saved, or participate in the heteronormative economy of “saving” European Premiere

AORTA films MILLK BURLESQUE 4.03 In MILLK BURLESQUE, Parts Authority, Erykah Ohms, and Ginny Woolf ceremonially edge us towards The OH Files’ climatic money shot. Honoring their cyborg sexualities with the consumption of MILLK (a white viscus substance used to fuel their post-human transition) the three begin to bend time with their erotic power, letting the wet, white viscosity flow freely forward, splashing down their bodies and dripping from their mouths. World Premiere

TOTAL 50.22

My performance work Guardian was in a book called Desire Change and in a talk. Photo by Lisa Graves. This image was taken at a contemporary art lecture at Concordia University in Montreal by Heather Davis. photo Christeen Francis.

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In new news Future Visions is in the Queer Arts Festival this June! And we are looking for new submissions if you or someone you know would like to make a minute future prediction by video and upload it to Vimeo or Youtube.

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Here is my newest submission call for this year’s 5 brand new video and performance art curations. Please check out the fb event here. I am curating with and alongside wonderful organizations and people again this year!

  Over the holidays I paid all the artists from last year who screened in the Berlin series I curated –  115 international video artists! I have transferred all the grant money out to these talented individuals. Thank you for being part of this epic project and to the Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa for this amazing funding for all of us.

For my relaxed New Year’s Resolution I will be creating a video performance series with trees and plants. I wish to take some sacred time to be more still and intimate with and in nature. Follow me on instagram to enjoy this video series shot by myself and close friends.  I am going back to my performance art roots and building on ecosexual and earth art projects from the past that I created in the United States between 2011-2015.

  Venice, Berlin, Amsterdam! I had a very busy end of summer pulling together the giant annual fundraiser Witch Rave…

[autvisualarts]

This week in Y2 BVA Theory –with visiting artists Molly Rangiwai McHale and Luisa Tora!

[diasporadic679]

When Can I See You Again? | Fresh Gallery Ōtara

16 Feb – 25 March 2017

Molly Rangiwai-McHale, Luisa Tora, Ana Te Whaiti, Jamie Berry,Sangeeta Singh, Tasi Su’a. Exhibiting artist, Kerrie Van Heerden was in England at the time.

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When Can I See You Again? offers a public invitation into a private, contemplative space. This multimedia, multicultural, multi-regional exhibition of emerging artists explores female sexualities, desire, power, and safe spaces.

The collectively curated gathering attempts to build “a community of resistance” (bell hooks). A “central location for the production of a counter-hegemonic discourse that is not just found in words but in habits of being and the way one lives”.

Women’s voices and bodies are privileged in new works created by Ana Te Whaiti, Jamie Berry, Kerrie Van Heerden, Luisa Tora, Molly Rangiwai-McHale, Sangeeta Singh, and Tasi Su’a.

Opening Night event on Thursday 16 February at 6pm, with a free bus to and from Fresh Gallery Ōtara, picking-up outside Family Bar on Karangahape Road.

A Weaving Circle on Saturday 18 March at 3 – 5pm offers an opportunity to speak with the artists, to talk about our shared herstory, and to make some bold projections about what form a utopian queer female future might take.

Knot Even Workshop, Saturday 25 Feb, 10am-1pm: Learn basic rope knotting and body adornment/jewellery techniques with exhibiting artists.

Photo: Raymond Sagapolutele.

[garota-das-letras]

-Droga!- exclamou Jorge. Ele e Luisa namoravam há 5 meses. Estavam viajando rumo a fazenda do avô dele, a fim de passar o fim de semana em um lugar diferente. -O que a gente faz agora? -Não sei. Aqui não pega celular. Vamos ver. Na estrada de terra, a lama os atolou. Desceram do automóvel reclamando por sujarem os tênis novos. -Não vamos conseguir fazer isso sozinhos. Precisamos de ajuda.- reportou Luisa. Jorge acenou com a cabeça. Observou os arredores. Viu cercas de arame farpado e, ao longe, uma luz claramente oriunda de uma casa. -Ali!- disseram juntos e triscaram no mato. Era um ritual que os dois tinham quando falavam alguma coisa ao mesmo tempo: tocar o verde. Caminharam abraçados em direção ao local. Pararam no meio do caminho para descansar, se sentando em toras de madeiras ali mesmo. -Quando chegar na fazenda, eu vou direto para a piscina.- declarou Jorge. - São três horas da manhã! - A melhor hora sempre é agora. Riram. Conversaram por alguns minutos. Ambos se entreolhavam de modo a apreciar o companheiro: o homem com cachos dourados como os olhos e pele morena, a mulher com ondas negras caindo sobre os ombros e algumas sardas sob os olhos. Obras de arte. -Vamos continuar? -Vamos. Retomaram o a caminhada sem perder o viés da conversação. Falaram sobre amar e odiar poemas ou músicas, como embutir um no outro até os ouvidos opinarem, enquanto atravessaram uma ponte e chegaram na casa. Era marrom e tinha telhado cinza. Monocromático, como a maioria das da região rural central da Austrália. -Limpe os pés no capim antes de entrar. Assim fizeram e bateram na porta, que se abriu sozinha. Dentro do espaço iluminado, havia uma sala, sofás, TV e manchas vermelhas para todo o lado. -Olá? Ninguém respondeu. Luisa supôs o que realmente era aquelas colorações nada agradáveis que enfeitam o chão e as paredes: -Isso é sangue, Jorge. Vamos embora! -Que isso! Deve ser de algum animal! Vamos ali... Entraram na cozinha e não gostaram do que viram: membros humanos, cabeças com órbitas vazias, mas que mesmo assim parecia os perseguir com os olhos. -VAMOS EMBORA JORGE!!! AGORA!!! Os dois se viraram. Na porta da cozinha, um homem que trajava roupas ensanguentadas os encarou. Sorriu, e logo seguida sussurrou com prazer: -Vocês não deveriam ter entrado aqui.

[pimpiknows]

“Marama Dina Redux” (2018) by Luisa Tora, #Wantok exhibition currently showing at #Māngere Arts Centre - Ngā Tohu o Uenuku until 26 May 2018 #PacificArt #TeamFiji (at Mangere Arts Centre - Ngā Tohu o Uenuku)

[diasporadic679]

Collaborators Extraordinaire in the Fiji Museum Storeroom.

Luisa Tora, Mereula Buliruarua, and Mere Rosi Navuda, Bernadette Kaulotu Suiqa, Koleta Tobeyaweni, Ta’Arei Weeks, and Elizabeth Tanya Sidal of VOU Dance Fiji collaborated on a performance titled ‘Na Veiqia Vou (2017)’. This is part of The Veiqia Project's home tour to Fiji in 2017. The exhibition opened at the Fiji Museum on International Women's Day, 8 March.

Photo: Sangeeta Singh.

[diasporadic679]

This collaborative work - Na Veiqia Vou (2017) - was developed in Suva by Luisa Tora, Mereula Buliruarua, and Mere Rosi Navuda, Bernadette Kaulotu Suiqa, Koleta Tobeyaweni, Ta’Arei Weeks, and Elizabeth Tanya Sidal of VOU Dance Fiji. This is part of The Veiqia Project's home tour to Fiji in 2017. The exhibition opened at the Fiji Museum on International Women's Day, 8 March. Women play an important role in iTaukei society. As the Rev. Dr Ilaitia Tuwere has said women are the ‘liga ni magiti’ – “the source of life, the depositories of wisdom". The performance represents the young women who had received their we ni qia and were returning to much celebration in their community. The performers activated the space and led the audience into the exhibition.

[pimpiknows]

This is us! On Saturday 17 January from 12 – 6pm, the artists from the upcoming Between Wind and Water exhibition and residency will be at Wellington’s Positively Pasifika Festival at Waitangi Park!

Come down and meet the crew and pick up a copy of SOUTH publication featuring artist profiles, reviews, photo essays and page works by South Auckland’s finest Maori and Pacific artists. Limited edition PIMPI fans will be on sale, as well as Oceania Interrupted T-shirts… and keep an eye out for Oceania Interrupted who’ll be on a mission to raise awareness for West Papua in the capital!

The exhibition of new works by Tanu Gago, Leilani Kake and Luisa Tora opens at Enjoy Public Art Gallery on Saturday 10 January; the first event of the residency is on Wednesday 14 January – Pacific vs Art: A discussion on Curating Pacific Art - all welcome!

 Between Wind and Water has been produced with support from

Wellington’s Positively Pasifika Festival is two weeks away! This is us! On Saturday 17 January from 12 - 6pm, the artists from the upcoming…

[pimpiknows]

Luisa Tora has been busy finishing her Bachelor of Creative Arts at Manukau Institute of Technology in South Auckland. But in the past 18 months she has also shown at St Paul St Gallery, Fresh Gallery Otara and OTARAwindow (which was also featured in the NZ Herald here), at Nathan Homestead, in a pop-up exhibition for the Auckland Pride Festival at Pitt Street Methodist Church, in a poster exhibition for IDAHOT, undertaken an internship with Auckland Museum AND had her work purchased for the Te Papa Tongarewa permanent collection!

Working Image

Process

Whilst developing on a new work for Between Wind and Water, Luisa slipped in another exhibition: The Drowned World curated by Daniel Michael Satele for Tautai Trust. As part of her enquiry into her village’s origin story and totemic relationship with the shark, Luisa worked with Fijian artist, Joana Monolagi, to create a salusalu [garland; lei] from laser cut Perspex. Read more here.

For Between Wind and Water, Luisa has developed a new and experimental installation entitled, Naqalotu: Na qalo tu.

‘Na qalo tu’ celebrates the central role of vasu and the ocean in my life. It profiles the strong, beautiful females who sustain, influence and inspire me. This offering merges the narratives of my village, Naqalotu’s origin story; our ika, the shark; and my vasu support system.

Luisa will discuss her work as part of a special panel discussion on Wednesday 21 January at Enjoy Public Art Gallery. Guest speakers Kaliopate Tavola (Fiji) and Milena Palka (WWF New Zealand), will speak to the wider themes of Fijian identity and totemic relationships, and the protection and state of shark populations in the Pacific.

When

Naqalotu: Na qalo tu – A panel discussion on new work by Luisa Tora 5.30pm, Wednesday 21 January

The residency of Between Wind and Water artists will take place from 10-24 January; the exhibition will be on show until 31 January.

Where

Enjoy Public Art Gallery is located on the First Floor, 147 Cuba Street, Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.

 Between Wind and Water has been produced with support from

Naqalotu: Na qalo tu – A new work by Luisa Tora for #BetweenWindAndWater Luisa Tora has been busy finishing her Bachelor of Creative Arts at Manukau Institute of Technology in South Auckland.

[pimpiknows]

#BetweenWindandWater in Wellington this Summer!

#BetweenWindandWater in Wellington this Summer!

I’m excited to be producing my first arts project in Wellington next year! Entitled Between Wind and Water, the project includes an exhibition of new work by Tanu Gago, Leilani Kake and Luisa Tora, and a series of six events at Enjoy Public Art Gallery, where we’ll be collectively undertaking a two week residency from 10-24 January 2015.

Between Wind and Wateris a nautical term that came about…

[pimpiknows]

I STAND WITH YOU is a project developed by Luisa Tora, a third year Visual Arts student at Manukau Institute of Technology Faculty of Creative Arts in Otara, South Auckland. Marking International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT), the project features 13 artworks produced as posters for display at both the Faculty of Creative Arts and in a pop-up exhibition at Fresh Gallery Otara from 12-17 May, 2014.

I’m pleased to have partnered on this important project along with the Faculty of Creative Arts, Fresh Gallery Otara and FAF SWAG. The artists involved have produced an excellent body of work; they represent students, staff, alumni and friends of the Faculty of Creative Arts, each with a unique relationship to South Auckland.

I’ll be speaking as one of seven quick-fire lunchtime artist talks on Tuesday 13 May from 12.30pm at MIT Faculty of Creative Arts, 50 Lovegrove Crescent, Otara, South Auckland – all welcome! The project’s other public event is a lunchtime panel of LGBTQI youth service providers on Thursday 15 May at 12.30pm. On the actual IDAHOT day, Saturday 17 May, artists, friends and family are invited to morning tea at Fresh Gallery Otara at 11am.

The posters are not for sale, but check out the project’s website and contact page for enquiries.

  I STAND WITH YOU, a poster project celebrating #IDAHOT in #SouthAuckland I STAND WITH YOU is a project developed by Luisa Tora, a third year Visual Arts student at…

[pimpiknows]

Check out I STAND WITH YOU, a poster project celebrating #IDAHOT in #SouthAuckland: http://istandwithyou.wordpress.com