A CELEBRATION OF TONGAN ART AND CULTURE
The Ashburton Art Gallery is pleased to present Tonga ‘I Onopooni: Tonga Contemporary, an exhibition of contemporary Tonga art, from Pataka Art+Museum, Porirua. The Ashburton Art Gallery is one of only
three venues in the South Island to host this exhibition from Wednesday 11th November through to Sunday 24th January.
This groundbreaking exhibition is the first to focus exclusively on the work of artists of Tongan heritage living in New
Zealand.
This show will open to the public on Tuesday the 10th of November at 6pm in partnership with the Tongan families of
Ashburton who will support this exhibition opening with a celebratory evening of traditional performance and food. All
are welcome to attend, we hope many people will come along to experience the wonderful diversity of the art and connect
with the local Tongan families.
Tonga ‘I Onopooni: Tonga Contemporary consist of work by twelve Tongan artists, all of whom now live in New Zealand. The works of these artists is diverse
and includes sculpture, painting, tapa, photography, video and installation.
Exhibition Curator Nina Kinahoi Tonga says, “Collectively the works in this exhibition embody the experiences of Tongan
people living in New Zealand whose connection (and disconnections) from afar continually enrich notions of Tonga.” Tonga
will make a special trip to Ashburton to give a floor talk on the 17th of December at 5:30pm to discuss the works
included in the exhibition.
In conjunction with this exhibition throughout December at the Gallery we invite visitors to take inspiration from
artist Sopolemalama Filipe Tohi works. In particular his collection of Haukulasi which are three dimensional woven works in string and kafa (sennit) with all visitors being invited to make their own
woven hanging decorations.
ENDS