NAI TUKUNI EXHIBITION C ATA L O G U E 2017
NAi TUKUNI Waisiliva Artists Collective
EXHIBITION CATALOGUE 2017
Contents Curatorial Statement
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Alifereti malai
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Anare somumu
6
Craig Marlow
15
Esala talebula
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Irami Buli
20
John mausio
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Josaia mcnamara
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Katarina sai
36
Meli somumu
37
Mere Rasue
47
Reapi Blyde
48
Selwyn Palmer
50
Tilley Faamoana
51
Tushaal Kumar
54
Ulamila balemaibau
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Waisiliva
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History
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Contact Details
Curatorial Statement Na I Tukuni, STORYTELLER: is the ancient art of recording history, telling stories of people, chants, folklore, legends and dance, a keeping of records, to pass down knowledge through generations. For a millennia, indigenous histories, genealogies, migration of tribes and ancestries was documented through storytelling. It was once known that the only way to keep the secrets away from ink is through ‘Na I Tukuni’: the ancient art of keeping history. For artists in the ever-evolving urban pacific landscape, they are now visual orators; they are keepers of the knowledge and do so in abundant new ways. This exhibition seeks to allow artist to tell their stories; stories of triumph, of sadness, of families, of lament and loss. As visual orators of today, artists are asked to tell stories in different ways. Using paintbrushes as tongues and canvases as mouth pieces, artists capture their stories as a way of keeping watch and documenting the new and vulnerable spaces that is the pacific landscape. In a world that has changed at rates we cannot fathom, we call on these visual orators, these land based navigators to document our history and stories in the vanguard of this new time. Peter Sipeli
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Alifereti malai
Bui Yadia - Grandma India Pencil on Paper 23.5cm x 31cm
2
Mata Ni Vanua - Land Has Eyes Pencil on Paper 23.5cm x31cm 3
Ai Vanovano Pencil on Paper 23.5cm x 31cm
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Buku Na Druadrua Pencil on Paper 23.5cm x 31cm
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Anare Somumu
Na itukuni kei Nau - Etchings of a Lifetime Acrylic on Canvas 80cm x 60cm
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Na itukuni vuni - Delving into the unknown Acrylic on Canvas 60cm x 60cm
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Na itukuni ni gauna Series - Tales of Time Acrylic on Masi 35cm x 45cm
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Na itukuni ni gauna Series - Tales of Time Acrylic on Masi 35cm x 45cm
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Na itukuni ni gauna Series - Tales of Time Acrylic on Masi 35cm x 45cm
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Na itukuni ni gauna Series - Tales of Time Acrylic on Masi 35cm x 45cm
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Na itukuni ni gauna Series - Tales of Time Acrylic on Masi 35cm x 45cm
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Na itukuni ni gauna Series - Tales of Time Acrylic on Masi 35cm x 45cm
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Na itukuni ni gauna Series - Tales of Time Acrylic on Masi 35cm x 45cm
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Craig Marlow
Wasisiliva 1 Acrylic on Canvas 46cm x 46cm
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Waisiliva 2 Acrylic on Canvas 46cm x 46cm
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Esala talebula
The Journey Acrylic on Canvas 30cm x 40cm
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Passion for Music Acrylic on Canvas 30cm x 30cm
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Living with Enthusiasm Acrylic on Canvas 30cm x 30cm
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Irami buli
Where Are My Leaves Oil on Canvas 91cm x 91cm
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Patience 2 Oil/Ink on paper 24cm x 17cm
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Qio Tamata Oil/Ink on paper 24cm x 17cm
22
The Long Walker Oil/Ink on paper 24cm x 30cm
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The Offering Oil/Ink on paper 24cm x 30cm
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Think Like A Bird Oil/Ink on paper 24cm x 30cm
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Earthly Bottles 2 Oil/Ink on paper 24cm x 30cm
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The Way Up Oil/Ink on paper 24cm x 30cm
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Urban Drfit 2 Oil/Ink on paper 24cm x 30cm
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John mausio
Hanitemausu Acrylic on Canvas 71cm x 58 cm
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Diaspora - The Dilemma Acrylic on Canvas 80cm x 60 cm
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The Tribute Acrylic on Canvas 90cm x 60 cm
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Josaia mcnamara
Burotukula 2 Ink on Paper 38cm x 40cm
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Mata - Ni - Tu Vanua Ink on Paper 21cm x 30cm
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Na Sau Ink on Paper 23cm x 30 cm
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Burotukula Oil on Canvas 170cm x 80cm
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Katarina sai
Kuro Ni Rarama Clay and Magimagi
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Meli somumu
Veika Talei - Celebrating beauty Acrylic on Canvas 46cm x 60cm
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Waisiliva Acrylic on Canvas 28cm x 36cm
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Beloved Orchid Acrylic on Canvas 28cm x 36cm
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Images of Me Series Pencil on Paper 26cm x 20cm
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Images of Me Series Pencil on Paper 26cm x 20cm
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Images of Me Series Pencil on Paper 26cm x 20cm
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Images of Me Series Acrylic on Canvas 26cm x 20cm
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Images of Me Series Acrylic on Canvas 26cm x 20cm
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Images of Me Series Acrylic on Canvas 26cm x 20cm
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Images of Me Series Acrylic on Canvas 26cm x 20cm
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Mere Rasue
Na itukuni Ni Marama - Journey of a Woman Acrylic on Canvas 60cm x 50cm
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Reapi Blyde
The Deep 1 Acrylic on Canvas 50cm x 25cm
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The Deep 2 Acrylic on Canvas 50cm x 25cm
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Selwyn Palmer
The Hunters Catch Acrylic on Canvas 84cm x 60cm
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Tilley Fa’amoana
Unspoken Acrylic on Canvas 110cm x 50cm
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I am Brown Acrylic on Canvas 122cm x 86cm
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The Dream Acrylic on Canvas 100cm x 90cm
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Tushaal Kumar
Emotions Acrylic on Canvas 36cm x 46cm
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Ulamila bulamaibau II
My Journey - Protect Nature Pray for Mother Earth Acrylic on Canvas 86cm x 66cm
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Think Green Acrylic on Canvas 20cm x 26cm
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All Things Bright and Beautiful Acrylic on Canvas 20cm x 25cm
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Waisiliva The Waisiliva Gallery is an artistic collective and brand that seeks to showcase, promote and market visual art work by local Fijian artists. Waisiliva believes that local visual artists in Fiji equal their counterparts in the rest of the world, and seeks to through exhibition, collaboration and mentorship connect local arts to the world. Centered on the ideas and ethos of a voyaging society, Waisiliva Gallery believes that the artistic community and traditional knowledge, customs and ways of knowing of Pacific people is at the center of the work Waisiliva supports. Waisiliva believes that inclusivity and artistic integrity are beacons we aspire to uphold, as Pacific people we are only strong through community, connection and mana, and we move into the future, carrying our ancestries, bloodlines, and past with us.
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History The history of Waisiliva began back in 2002, when a few artists staged an exhibition on Leleuvia with the late Josie Crick, also the late Jaabi Faraai , Luke a Spanish artist and Irami Buli, from that time they were thinking of staging several shows a year, they hung their paintings on trees, pieces of cardboard and anything they could hang work from.
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Josie Crick, who was an inspirational artist and person, her demeanor and artistry was an energy that held people and generally artists together, Leleuvia was one of her most treasured place as a place to get away and to create art, it was many years later in 2013 when the Hotel Leleuvia was being set up by Colin Philp that Jaabi Faraai
a Frenchman of African ethnicity who was a great friend of Josie and who also was a person that artists gravitated towards with Colin began to think of and set up the idea of a gallery, and over conversations and many round tanoa of yagona that gallery Waisiliva was born. Jaabi Faraai, passed away last year and the gallery and its collective continues the work in their spirit. Waisiliva means silver waters, on the last night of each month is the darkest night of month, at times when the moon is high in the sky and the lights reflects off the waters in the bay of Bau, it creates a silvery illusion, it is this place that exists in Fijians songs and in poems and this was the name that was used for the name of the gallery. Now 4 years later, the gallery hosts most of Fiji’s top visual artists, artists by the likes of Irami Buli, Craig Marlow, Reapi Blyde, Lambert Ho, Josaia McNamara, Tessa Miller, Josaia Mcnamara, Anare Somumu, John Mausio, Alifereti Malai, and a host of other artists. New focus in 2017: With two of the leading mentors of the gallery now passed on, Josie Crick and Jaabi Faraai, the collective led by Colin Philp, Leleuvia Resort Manager and President of
the Voyaging Society in Fiji and a mentor to the sailing and Uto-ni-Yalo community and a small group of artists carries on the work in honor of the legacy of both Josie Crick and Jaabi Faarai. Peter Sipeli has been bought on board to manage the exhibitions or the year, set up a calendar and work across the arts sector to build partnerships and build PR/ Communications for the gallery. This year the gallery is hosting 7 exhibitions and with ongoing talks with the Fiji Craft Society and with the partners the Visual arts collective of Waisiliva intends to raise the standard of art being presented in Fiji, work with bring on board more women artists and younger artists and create exhibitions opportunities for the sale and marketing of Fiji made visual arts for the livelihood to sustain artists and their families. The Waisiliva Collective collected believes that through respect and a deep connection to the land, its people and the customs that bind us as a Fijian people together, we use this bond as the instrument that brings us knowledge, vision and the creativity to create and present global standard work in Fiji to the rest of the world.
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Contact: (679) 777 6820 waisilivagallery@gmail.com Website: www.leleuvia.com Facebook: Waisiliva Gallery
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