OPENING! Etanah Lalau-Talapa: Off the mark(ings)

06 September. Free entry.

Join us at 5.30pm for the mihi whakatau and opening of Off the mark(ings), a solo exhibition by Etanah Lalau-Talapa.

All welcome, no RSVP required, drinks and snacks provided!

Off the mark(ings) is a resistance against the enduring effects of colonisation and militarisation on the environment and Pacific arts. In this solo exhibition, Etanah Lalau-Talapa builds an expanded worldview from shells, birds, and deep textile histories.

The title of the exhibition foregrounds the importance of drawing in Etanah’s practice. Relationships to patterns used in some of the oldest siapo are built through repetition. New motifs spring from this process as well, bringing the tint of a 90s childhood into contact with research in online museum archives of 19th and 20th century Samoan tapa.

Referencing siapo mamanu (free-hand drawing), personal and ancestral experiences, and knowledge shared across Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, Off the mark(ings) considers how these circulate through digital and physical realms, and the importance of digital self-determination for Pacific cultures.

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Etanah Lalau-Talapa
Etanah Lalau-Talapa is a multi-disciplinary artist and curator of Afega and Sa'anapu heritage from Samoa. With a Bachelor of Design in Spatial Design from College of Creative Arts at Massey University, her work spans across public installations, digital art, mixed media and photography. Her works often explore motherhood, family lineage and lived experiences of the Pacific diaspora in Aotearoa. Her interest lies at the intersection of discovering new visual languages that bridges traditional and contemporary creative forms, while reflecting on her Samoan cultural heritage. Etanah is currently working as Hutt City Council's Community Arts Facilitator.